Smaller, More Honest Souls
by MasterCaedus
Summary: Following the cataclysmic events of RWBY season 3, Remnant is in disarray and team RWBY is torn apart. Ruby and JNPR are the only ones chasing after Cinder Fall to exact justice. Worlds away, Sora fights the final battle for Kingdom Hearts against Xehanort and to gain justice for those he has hurt. Who is Salem, and could these battles be part of the same war against the Darkness?
1. The End

**_Chapter 1: The End..._**

"A smaller, more honest soul... It's true that a simple spark can ignite hope, breathe fire into the hearts of the weary; the ability to derive strength from hope is undoubtedly mankind's greatest attribute. Which is why... I will focus _all_ of my power...

"To snuff _._ It. _Out_. How does that feel? Knowing that all of your time and effort has been for nothing? That your guardians have failed you? That everything you have built will be torn down before your very eyes?

"Your faith in humanity was not misplaced, though. When banded together, united by a common enemy? They _are_ a noticeable threat. But divide them, place doubt into their minds? Then any semblance of power they had will wash away.

"Of course, they won't realize at first. Like you, they'll cling to their fleeting hope, their aspirations. But this is merely the first move. So send your Guardians, your _Huntsmen_ , your _Huntresses_. And when they fail, and you turn to your smaller soul? Know that you send her to the same pitiful demise.

"This is the beginning of the **end,** Ozpin. And I cannot wait, to watch you _**burn."**_

 _ **R**_ _**W**_ _**B**_ _ **Y**_

Small, ephemeral tornadoes of sand and ash would appear and disappear, drifting lazily across the tortured landscape. The sky was darkened completely so that only the moon far above was gleaming; it did so with such brightness that it seemed unnatural and disturbing while at the same time soothing and commonplace. The darkness that surrounded it permeated even the physical world, casting shadows through the mountainous landscape and across the entire world. The remains of a long forgotten war were illuminated by the moon as the clouds far above drifted slowly, revealing the fragmented and rusted remains of countless fallen warriors partially buried beneath the dirt. The battlefield was separated into four quarters, a crossroads opening up towards the four cardinal directions at the center. This was a shrine to the fallen, a place of remembrance and a warning that the same mistakes that had brought such ruin ages before should never be repeated. It was meant as a place of peace.

Right now, however, the war which had annihilated all life on this plain was raging once again. The young man jumped backwards, just in time to avoid the massive stone that had crashed into the ground where he had stood. A thousand ancient weapons flew into the air, twirling dangerously as they plummeted back to the ground. Rushing at his enemy, the young man leaped into the air and jumped from weapon to weapon, defying gravity as he neared his floating nemesis. As he reached the last of the falling blades, he looped the weapon around his leg, sweeping it forward to spear through his enemy. The old man merely laughed and raised his hand, lazily shattering the defunct blade. Then the man brought his own ornate weapon down to crash into the young man's. The air itself seemed to crackle and burst around them before exploding outward from the sheer force of the blow.

The two began to trade more of the massive blows, sparks of static electricity forming from the sheer pressure of blade against blade. Those far below, the allies of both men, would occasionally stop and watch the proceedings in awe and terror. These two polar opposites, young and old, dark and light, were fighting to decide the fate of so much more than a single battle. The moon flared, its light illuminating the battlefield and the twenty warriors who fought beneath the gaze of the heart shaped moon. No, this war would decide the fate of all worlds. The Light had put its faith into a child, the Darkness into a frail old man, but no one else present could hope to match the two.

"Had you fought me in the years to come, you could have won," the old man taunted his adversary, his voice dripping with condescension and hate. The old man laughed at the determined, calm look on the young man's face. "But now? You are just a child, while I am a Keyblade Master. I am the **χ** -blade master!" The old man spun in the air, his long coat trailing behind him, and brought his blade around to crash into the young man's, sending him flying towards the mountainside in the distance. The **χ** -blade hummed and the glow of the moon above grew brighter.

The weapon was magnificent, the epitome of power. Darkness and Light made one to conquer Kingdom Hearts and bring complete knowledge and power to its wielder. It was formed in the shape of two keys crossing in an X, combining the baskets of the weapons into the handle. A snowflake-like pattern of light erupted from the blades of the two keys and a blade of light from the area between the ends of the keys. From the bases of both keys flowed chains that came together in a single link, culminating in a red and black heart covered in the same 'X' as the keys on the weapon made.

The old man flew after his prey, tossing pillars of stone at the young man large enough to demolish the mountain itself, much less the boy. However, the young man was not one to be underestimated. Even as he hit the mountain, he had rebounded to jump towards the old man again. He brought his weapon up, slicing clean through the building sized slab of stone, sending the two halves of it careening across the landscape. The gargantuan stones crashed through the mountain, tearing chunks of the quiet sentinel off in explosions of stone and dust. The young man shot an explosion of flames downward, preventing his descent and allowing him to crash shoulder first into the old man's chest. "You'll never be the master of the **χ** -blade or of Kindom Hearts, Xehanort," the young man told the old man, twisting midair to bring their weapons together again. "It's like I told you once – you'll never understand that Kingdom Hearts is Light!" The young man used the momentum of their blades crashing together to deliver an ax kick to Xehanort's head, sending the man rushing to the ground. There was an explosion of force as he hit the ground, forming a huge crater far below. The young man could see the glints of light from the moon above catching on the ancient weapons that had been thrown upwards by the crash. As he fell, however, he noticed the weapons weren't falling at all. "Reflect!" he shouted, bringing his Keyblade up as a torrent of the ancient weapons flew toward him, crashing into the clear wall around him and glancing off harmlessly.

It was hard for the young man to believe, sometimes. Just a few short years before, he had been a normal kid living on his island, hoping to see other worlds. It had taken his home getting destroyed and the appearance of the Keyblade for him to actually get his wish. Though he had been able to fix his home, the Keyblade had stuck with him and had become part of him. The weapon was shaped, as it logically would be, like a key. The basket of the weapon was a square around the black handle, though the golden metal was thicker at the base. The key extended into a silver blade with teeth shaped like the reverse silhouette of a crown. A chain extended from the base into three circles that the young man thought looked oddly similar to the head of one of his friends.

Then his shield shattered, and the keyblades of long dead warriors crashed into him, slashing into his body and sending him, bruised and battered, towards Xehanort. "No, Sora, what you don't understand is that the result of every light is a deep darkness!" the man snapped, bringing his hand up to catch the young man by his head. He brought the young man's entire body slamming into the ground, shattering stone with a loud _crack!_ "You fight for that which only delays the truth and power of Darkness. You fight for weakness and transient 'hope.' You fight for a universe that disregards power. And just like it, you are weak." He slammed Sora into the ground again, the young man's brown, spiky hair snapping wildly back and forth as he was slammed again and again into the stone.

"Maybe I am weak," Sora responded quietly, freezing the old man. Then suddenly Xehanort gasped in pain and was thrown back by an explosion of light. He quickly righted himself, however, and let himself float to the ground in an aura of Darkness. "But that's why I have friends!" The young man stood shoulder to shoulder with a short duck wearing a wizard hat and a lanky dog in knight's armor. Sora himself was clothed in snow white and black, twin Keyblades of the same opposite colors in either hand. "They can be my strength and I'll be theirs!"

"Then their strength shall fail with yours!" Xehanort snarled, rushing forward, **χ** -blade ready to pierce Sora's chest. The young Keyblade wielder was not there when Xehanort arrived, though; Sora had disappeared into thin air.

"Now!" the young man shouted, twirling in the air. Xehanort's eyes widened as he saw the young man was not holding his Keyblades, instead his hands were clasped with those of the lanky knight. As he continued to spin high above, Sora let the knight's hand go and the Dog-man shot with his shield before him like a bullet right at Xehanort. The elderly Keyblade master tried to sidestep, but he was barraged by a series of flame spells from all sides. He was thrown between the explosions, grunting in pain as his flesh was seared and he was forced back into the path of the knight. Xehanort caught sight of the Duck-wizard commanding the explosions of magic around him, though he also guessed that Sora was getting his fair share of attacks in as well throughout the entire endeavor.

When the knight and his shield hit Xehanort, he was already off balance from the barrage of spells. He slammed into the ground with enough force to leave an imprint and was dragged through the stone headfirst until he and the knight stopped more than a dozen yards from where they had collided. "Did we get him?" the wizard quacked. The knight shrugged and bent down to check, only to have Xehanort's white gloved hand wrap around his throat.

"You have been a thorn in my side for far too long, boy," he told Sora as he floated back to his feet, deflecting the spells of the Duck right back at their caster, sending the diminutive wizard flying back. "Hm... roast duck. Well, I think its time we end this as it began. Between the three of us." The elderly warrior turned and threw the knight.

"Goofy! Donald!" Sora shouted, reaching out and running for them. He fired off a Blizzaga to distract Xehanort as he tried to reach his friends, but that spell didn't even annoy the elderly villain.

"Not so fast!" Xehanort snapped, instantly appearing in front of Sora. He elbowed the young man in the face and sent him flying, but the Keyblade wielder righted himself and began to float with the aid of the Keyblades that had returned to hover across his back. "Now, as I was saying, we should all be here for this, hm?" The elderly man raised his hand and covered it with a dark aura before swinging it down. A rift in reality, a black shadow, appeared and a young man with white hair and a Keyblade tumbled out.

Sora recognized the man before he had even hit the ground, running over to protect his best friend with both Keyblades at the ready, spinning to create a constant Reflega wall around them. "Riku!" Sora gasped. "Riku, are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," the white haired boy replied, pushing himself to his feet and wiping blood from his face. He looked around at the wall surrounding them and then, as if he suddenly felt embarrassed for having not said it sooner, muttered, "Thanks."

Sora grinned and laughed disarmingly; it had been no big deal at all, he was saying. Riku wondered how he could do that in the middle of a battle that was about to decide the fate of the universe. Of course, Sora had always been like that – a Light even when everything was at its darkest, dragging everyone around him back to the Light no matter what they had done. Riku was evidence enough for that. "We have to stop him," Riku finally said, returning to the task and glaring at the puppeteer who had engineered the near destruction of the entire universe more than three times.

"We can do it," Sora said, bringing the twin blades to his hands, wielding them backhand and letting the wall around them drop. "Together."

"Together," Riku agreed. As Sora jumped forward, distracting Xehanort with quick, powerful strikes from the twin Keyblades, Riku began to summon the strength of his heart to the tip of his Keyblade. Light swarmed to the tip of the weapon, condensing at the tip and approaching critical mass.

As soon as it did, Riku raised his Keyblade, a pair of wings – the blade the leathery blue and red of a demons and the teeth the gleaming white of an angel's, a weapon of Twilight – and a beam of light erupted from the end. Sora jumped out of the way at the last second; he'd been standing between Xehanort and Riku to prevent the old man from seeing what was happening. Xehanort laughed in response and deflected the energy with the **χ** -blade in a move so fast that both Riku and Sora were worried he'd already been blocking, sending the powerful stream of energy careening through the air and into the mountains. The beam hit the faraway stone and, for a moment, nothing happened.

Then there was an explosion of light on the side of the monolith, and the mountain slowly but steadily began to crumble to dust. Riku, Sora, and Xehanort all braced momentarily as the city sized cloud of ash and dust rushed towards them, obscuring everything and causing dust and debris to slash across their skin at high speeds. Sora and Riku growled to themselves, putting their hands up to protect their eyes from the rapidly moving fragments in the air, unfortunately leaving them wide open to attack.

Sora barely reacted in time, jumping away from the attack that had been aimed right at him. The **χ** -blade slashed through the ground where he had been, leaving behind an insidious stream of Darkness to rise like thick, black smoke from the ground. The next one came from his left, and he barely brought his black Keyblade up to block it in time, the jarring blow sending the weapon flying from his hand and him stumbling away.

With a quick flick of his wrist, the Keyblade returned to his off hand and looked around. His eyes widened as he saw a huge shadow creeping up from behind his friend, the shape of the **χ** -blade raised above its head. "Riku!" Sora shouted, moving like lightning to deflect the attack that rushed at his best friend from within the dust cloud. The twin Keyblades clashed with the weapon they emulated, bringing sparks of light and shadow into the air. Sora struggled against the sheer force that was pressing down on him, but failed to stand up to Xehanort's strength. The **χ** -blade slammed down with even more force, suddenly sending Sora flying backwards and right into Riku. The two tumbled through the dust cloud, skidding across the ground and bouncing to a stop side by side.

"You both were prime choices for vessels," the old man said, invisible within the dust cloud once again. Riku barely made it to his feet in time to block another attack. Wordlessly, perfectly understanding each other such that neither was sure if the idea was his own or the his friend's, the young men stood back to back, deflecting the glancing blows that came towards them. Xehanort, Seeker of Darkness, was playing with his prey. "Such powerful hearts, such overwhelming desires for strength. And you were from my home, my islands. It was destiny!"

"But neither of us gave in," Sora retorted. He pointed one Keyblade up "Wind!" The dust cloud suddenly dispersed and the two young men looked around wildly for their enemy.

"No, you both did!" Xehanort shouted from above. Sora shoved Riku out of the attack's path and brought his Keyblades up in an X, catching the **χ** -blade between them. The force of the blow instead broke right through his defenses, crushing Sora down into the ground, a crater around the two combatants. Xehanort laughed maniacally and brought his free hand up, then swiftly and savagely down onto Sora's face. Again, again and again, crushing the stone beneath Sora's skull into dust from the raw power of the blows. "I used your friend to gather the seven princesses. I used _you_ to summon me here. You both made this possible, handing Kingdom Hearts to me!"

"But we found our ways back," Riku shouted, leaping from the edge of the crater and rushing down at Xehanort. An explosive Firaga flew towards Xehanort, who lazily tossed Sora right into its path. The young man screamed in pain, flying from the explosion and directly back at Xehanort. Laughing, the old man caught Sora by the head and tossed him again at Riku. The two boys collided, hard, and crashed into the reverse-dome wall of the crater. Riku struggled to his feet in front of his friend, holding his Keyblade up to protect the two of them. "We led each other back to the Light!"

"But only because I created you both!" Xehanort growled, growing tired of the game "You would not be here, you would not be Keyblade Masters without me! Sora would never have been given _your_ birthright had I not existed! You would never have claimed a new Keyblade if you had not accepted my Darkness within you!" The old man fired his own Dark Firaga wordlessly at the young men, the spell barely being deflected by Riku. The white haired boy raised his Keyblade, bringing the chiming of bells and a green light to the area. Xehanort watched disinterestedly as Sora made his way back to the land of the conscious.

"We made ourselves!" Sora rasped, stumbling to his feet. He moved uneasily towards Xehanort , slashinghis twin Keyblades. None of the blows came close to hitting the old Keyblade Master, who moved out of the path of each blow at the last moment. Sora, however, was getting stronger with each moment. Despite himself, Xehanort found he was starting to have trouble sidestepping every attack.

"I am done with these games," the old man growled, swinging his weapon up to crash against the next blow of the Keyblades, sending Sora tumbling through the air. The young man righted himself almost immediately. "You are annoying me; bow or I shall burn the Princess to _nothing!"_

Sora's eyes widened as he landed on the ground. "Kairi," he muttered, glancing over at Riku, who also was glaring at Xehanort with anger. He turned back to Xehanort, eyes full of anger. "You won't touch her!" He roared a battle-scream and appeared before Xehanort, stunning the old man with his speed. He had not been expecting this.

"I made you, and I made her," Xehanort growled, barely dodging the rapid and precise, yet furious strikes raining down on him from Sora's twin Keyblades. He brought the **χ** -blade up, deflecting the next attack before striking Sora in the gut with his palm, shoving the Keyblade Wielder back. Sora's feet skidded through the stone, leaving a straight trail in front of him. "You are mine."

"We don't belong to you," Sora snapped, running at Xehanort again.

"It's in spite of you that we became who we are," Riku said from the other side of their nemesis, now attacking just as quickly. Xehanort turned in surprise, barely able to bring up the **χ** -blade in time to save himself from certain defeat. Sora had been playing the part of distraction to let his friend get into place for a flurry off sneak attacks. And now Xehanort was stuck trying to defend himself on two fronts, from the twin Keyblades on one side and from the Twilight warrior on his other. It was not going well for him, even with the omnipotence of the **χ** -blade in his grasp.

 _How is this possible?_ Xehanort asked himself, now struggling to keep up with the now in-sync attacks of the two young men. Moments before, he had been demolishing them. Yet now... now they were focused, driven. It was as if their hearts, and the hearts of all they had touched, suddenly were all fighting together. But... that wasn't possible, was it? "And what _are_ you?" the old man asked, yellow eyes flaring with hatred as he blocked another of Sora's attack with lightning like reflexes, countering with a deathblow that hit only empty air. "Children! Children who fight for meaningless nonsense like hope! You are _smaller_ _**hearts!"**_

"More honest hearts," Riku growled, looping the teeth of his weapon around the **χ** -blade's edge and slamming it to the ground. Xehanort's momentum tugged against the weapon, but Riku's grasp was firm; the old man stumbled to the ground, hand gripping the **χ** -blade that was now buried blade-first into the stone.

"And maybe that's all it'll take to beat you!" Sora yelled, swinging both his weapons into Xehanort's weapon.

"NO!" the Seeker of Darkness screamed, raising his hand to try and catch the Keyblades. He succeeded, but only in preventing one of the weapons from destroying his plans. The black Keyblade collided with the **χ** -blade, shattering the blade and consigning Xehanort's decades upon decades of planning to Oblivion.

All was gone for a moment. There was nothing. No light. No darkness. No sound. No silence. Everything was... frozen, as if all of time were observing this moment with bated breath. The **χ** -blade had been broken once again. Light and Dark had been fused and shattered, stretched and compressed into this weapon to hold all power, all realities, and it had been broken. Not destroyed, but broken. Still, all was frozen.

Then, the world suddenly started back up. The blade of the **χ** -blade that had been separated from the rest of the weapon compressed to a single point, all of its energy sucking in for a moment, then the shadows and light that had been contained exploded outward, sending Riku, Xehanort, and Sora flying apart from each other.

Sora groaned as sense and feeling returned to him. He tried to push himself to his feet, but groaned and clutched at his side – it felt like something was broken. He looked down out of instinct and nervously noted that he was no longer in his Final Form. He wondered if the explosion and fainting were responsible for having pushed him back to his normal power level. "Riku!" Sora groaned, looking around for his friend through the ash raining from the sky. He couldn't see his white haired brother in arms anywhere. Though, neither did he see Xehanort. "Maybe it's finally over. Maybe he's gone." Sora was not nearly that lucky.

"You have destroyed _everything!_ " Xehanort spat, slowly approaching the young man still stumbling to his feet. The jagged remains of the **χ** -blade remained in the old man's right hand as he advanced on the boy who had annihilated everything he had spent decades building. Xehanort had betrayed his closest friends, stolen the lives of countless, and destroyed his own time stream for this power and all it took was a single boy to lay ruin to everything? "Everything I have spent my entire life creating, you have made ruin in a mere moment. Not even Eraqus himself was this vexing, you... boy! You wish to be a Keyblade Master, to stop Darkness? Then die at the hand of that same Darkness, like all others before you!" The man brought the **χ** -blade upward slowly, threateningly. The jagged edges caught the ambient light of the battlefield, glinting menacingly even in the deep darkness. "I name you my enemy, the only worthy one I ever faced. I name you the Seeker of Light: a fool, a child, and now – dead." Then the old man brought it down, rushing towards Sora to finally do away with him.

Sora grunted in pain and brought his Keyblade up, but at that point he knew it was far too late. He was going to die. _I hope Riku and Kairi don't cry,_ he thought to himself, still bringing the Kingdom Key up to block. _That's not how you should remember friends._

However, Riku was not too late, crashing into Xehanort's side and sending the two of them tumbling away just as the **χ** -blade neared Sora's throat. There was a shout of pain as the weapon slashed wildly and randomly across Riku's chest, causing the young man to lay, unmoving, on the ground. Blood began to pool around the body laying face down in the dirt. "Riku!" Sora shouted, mind suddenly clear and the pain in his body ignored. He ran towards the old man, slashing as Xehanort jumped away from Riku's prone body. "RIKU! Hold on!"

"Sora!" Donald Duck shouted, the voice rushing towards the two boys from the clearing cloud of ash. Sora looked up, tears in his eyes, his own thoughts on how to remember friends already forgotten. Donald Duck and Goofy were accompanied by the rest of their allies, King Mickey at the front without his Keyblade in his hand.

"Riku!" a woman shouted, rushing past Mickey from the group and sliding across the ground to kneel next to Sora and Riku. Sora looked up at Kairi sadly, the two unsure if their friend was going to be okay.

"Guys, Riku. He's..." Sora growled at himself and turned the other young man over. There was a large gash across the white-haired Keyblade Master's chest, bleeding profusely. Sora quickly raised his Keyblade and green light flashed around him, suddenly fixing the huge wound on his friend's chest. And, he noticed, whatever pain had been in his own side.

Kairi leaned down and hugged her friend close. "King Mickey, is he going to be okay?" she asked, clutching at him. Sora was holding his friend's head off of the ground, praying he'd survive.

"I hope so," the royal mouse squeaked. He sighed and turned to gaze at Xehanort, summoning his Keyblade – a palette swap of Sora's own. "You're beaten, Xehanort. Surrender!"

"Surrender?" the old man asked, clutching at his side. Sora smiled – despite the wound Riku had suffered, he had obviously harmed the Dark Keyblade Master too. Xehanort laughed and an aura of Darkness began to grow around his shoulders, devouring the little light around him. "To you fools and weaklings? _Never!_ " The old man swiftly swiped his hand in front of him, sending a blade of Dark energy at the group who had brought themselves together to defeat him. Sora slashed through the energy with his weapon, saving Kairi, Riku, and himself, and was already rushing towards Xehanort ready to end it.

"Sora! Stop!" Kairi shouted, putting down Riku so she could help her other best friend. "Don't fight him alone!"

"I have to stop him!" Sora shouted over his shoulder as Xehanort began to open a door to the paths of darkness. Sora's eyes narrowed as he approached the man. "I won't let you escape!"

"Begone, you damn child!" the old man snapped, shooting another ball of Darkness at Sora. The young man just batted it back at its creator, but the old man was already through the portal of Darkness.

"No you don't!" Sora shouted, leaping forward and through the closing portal.

"SORA!" Kairi, Donald, and Goofy screamed, rushing forward as the portal shut completely. But it was too late – Sora and Xehanort were gone, and so were the remains of the **χ** -blade.

 _ **R**_ _ **W**_ _ **B**_ _ **Y**_

The young woman in the red cloak walked through the forest, hood pulled low over her head. She was uncharacteristically quiet, the struggles of the recent times weighing heavily upon her shoulders. The weight of the world was upon her and, despite not knowing it, she surely felt it. She glanced up at the crow that _cawed_ anxiously far above as the wind shifted suddenly. The young woman stopped, feeling the shift in pressure; it unnerved her. "Ruby!" a worried, nasally voice shouted. The young woman turned at the calling of her name towards the three rushing towards her: a clumsy blonde young man with a sword at his hip and white-gold armor over his black sweatshirt and blue jeans, a bouncy and excited redhead with a huge grenade launcher strapped across her back wearing a tight dueling blouse with heart insignias across it and a pink skirt, and a quiet, dark haired young man in a jade shirt with guns strapped to his hips.

"Sorry," Ruby replied, grinning sheepishly and pulling her hood down. Her dark hair, an almost black brown highlighted with deep crimson, swept around her face, with her bangs sweeping across her forehead to partially obscure one of her striking silver eyes. She clasped her hands behind her, laughing nervously. She was wearing a black combat skirt, accented with a red slightly brighter than the red in her hair. There was a red and black machine strapped to the small of her back, a sniper-rifle ready to extend into a scythe at any moment. "I must've been lost in thought." She chuckled nervously. "Sorry..."

"Oh, it's fine, Ruby!" the other young woman laughed. "Ren does that all the time – he's so quiet sometimes that you might just forget he's around until – BOO! He appears out of nowhere all of a sudden, like a ninja and you get really surprised and -"

Lie Ren put his hand on Nora's shoulder, quieting her. "It's fine," he said, ever the man of few words.

"We need to stay together, though," the blonde boy urged. "Splitting up isn't a good idea, not with Cinder still at large."

"Jaune, we'll be okay," Ruby said, knowing what was on the boy's mind. "Why would Cinder even be looking for us?" She frowned as the same memories ran through her mind. "Pyrrha... she wouldn't want us to be afraid."

"But -"

"Look," Ren urged, interrupting the two. Ruby and Jaune glanced over at the young man, who was pointing up into the sky. They followed his gaze and frowned.

"Hm. A shooting star?" Nora asked. "Oh! Make a wish, let's all make a wish!"

"I don't think so," Ren muttered. "No, it's heading for us."

"Then we should probably... run!" Ruby yelled, rushing away with her friends at her heels.

"AAAAHH!" another voice screamed.

"What was that!?" Jaune asked, glancing over his shoulder. He yelped as he noticed the falling star turning midair. "Is it _following_ us!?"

"Looook ooouut!" the other voice shouted again as the shooting star flew right over the fours' heads. The group stumbled to the ground, following the star with their eyes as it crashed into a nearby tree, sending tree dust and splinters flying everywhere. The Auras of the four young warriors caused what would have been mildly painful and incredibly annoying, to merely lance off of their skin painlessly. They glanced between each other, entirely unsure of what in the name of Dust had just happened.

"Did the... shooting star just..?" Nora asked, pushing herself to her feet, for once at a loss for words.

"Speak? I believe so, though it is impossible," Lie Ren responded, already standing. He had spoken more words in that moment than Ruby had ever heard him speak at once – again rare.

"Then let's go see if it did," Ruby said, serious. She had been itching for some action to take her mind off of things. Ruby Rose quickly used her semblance to shoot forward in a blur of roses, simultaneously dashing forward and clearing the cloud of dust in the forest around them. She appeared a moment later, scythe at the ready to defend against whatever creature had been within the falling star.

"Um.. er... Oh! 'Who goes there!?" She asked, striking her best hero pose. She giggled to herself, back to her old self for a moment.

The tree's wreckage stirred. "I'm Sora," a young man said, pushing the huge tree trunk up and off of his body. He was wearing black, tattered clothes that looked like one couldn't quite tell what they had been, only barely functional at that point with no remains of whatever style they had once had. They looked like they were burned at their tattered edges and – _still on fire!?_

Ruby watched, stunned as the strange boy revealed himself to be completely unharmed, save his completely destroyed clothes. He was grinning widely despite the painful crash he'd just survived, with spiky brown hair sticking out in every direction covered in wood fibers. He stuck his right hand – this one had a glove on it still – to Ruby for a handshake. "What's your name?"

Ruby stared, dumbfounded, at the young man. She'd seen a lot of _craaaaazy_ stuff since starting her first term at Beacon – a dragon Grimm the size of a building, someone get their leg broken at the knee but then walk around in a plan to destroy Vale the next day... she'd even seen Weiss smile once! That had been almost scary, and Ruby had wondered if it meant the beginning of the end of the world. But this boy? He looked to be no older than she was, which wasn't the surprising part. The surprising part was that he was looking right at her like they'd known each other forever, despite being complete strangers. Ruby didn't make friends super easily, so she would have remembered if they'd met before. Also, she would have remembered meeting someone who could turn into a shooting star! _How awesome!_ She squealed internally. "Well? I'm betting you have a name, right?" She shook herself from her thoughts to look at the still smiling Sora, who was waiting patiently and smiling as kindly as anyone could.

"Oh, I'm Ruby Rose," she replied, blushing slightly and rubbing the back of her head. She twirled her scyther around her body and into its travel mode, stowing it on the back of her belt. Ruby glanced over her shoulder at her also stunned friends and introduced them in turn, pointing at each of their slackjawed faces. "And that's Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie. But... who are you?"

"Who am I?" Sora asked, putting his hands behind his head and considering the question. He laughed happily, like the answer was the simplest thing ever. "Well, like I said, I'm Sora!"

"But _what_ are you?" Jaune asked, gazing and pointing dumbfounded at the demolished tree behind him.

Sora turne from the tree and laughed nervously. "I'm -"

Sora was interrupted by a roar nearby. "Grimm!" Nora shouted, pulling her grenade launcher/hammer hybrid – Magnihild – from her back and readying it as a dust grenade launcher. The trees nearby rustled, shaking as the monsters began to collide with them during their wild rush towards the humans they hunted

Ruby looked back at Sora, face serious and eyes steely. "Stay back, we're Huntsmen," she said, twirling her scythe around her and holding it at the ready. She checked the ammunition in the weapon's sniper-rifle, then slammed the clip back in. "We'll keep you safe."

"Keep me safe?" Sora asked, dumbfounded and amused. "Hm... so that's what that sounds like..."

Then the Grimm appeared from the edge of the forest, jumping onto the path. Ruby jumped forward, cleanly cleaving the quickest Beowolf in two, the creature already fading away to nothingness as she moved on to attack a Deathstalker with Jaune. Nora was laughing nearby, acrobatically slamming her huge hammer into the face of a Boarbatusk, shattering the bone-like mask that was its face. Ren jumped over the redhead, swinging his the sickles of his twin guns – StormFlower – across the chest of an Ursa bearing down on Nora, firing a burst of Dust bullets into its chest as he did so, sending it to evaporate into nothingness just as Nora slammed her hammer into the Boarbatusk and sent it flying into another one. She turned Magnihild into a grenade launcher once more and fired a single heart-emblazoned grenade at the two Grimm, sending them squealing to their doom.

Jaune had come into his own as a fighter, Ruby noted as the two took on the huge, scorpion like Grimm. He had held the creature off on his own and was now gaining ground – not as much as Ruby herself, but a significant amount regardless. He slashed his sword – which, with his shield was called Crocea Mors – to deflect the incoming stinger of the Grimm. Ruby twirled around him as he recovered from blocking the blow, slashing around with her scythe – aptly named Crescent Rose – to keep the Deathstalker's claw from cutting Jaune cleanly in two.

"Ren, get the tail. Nora, give us an opening!" Ruby shouted, slashing Crescent Rose across her body to block another pincer attack. Jaune dashed backwards, making room for Nora to leap onto his shield and use it as a springboard to leap into the air. She fired Magnihild behind her as she jumped, sending her flying even further into the air using the force of the explosion.

Meanwhile, Lie Ren flipped over a reaching pincer that reached out for him. He landed nimbly atop the claw, easily spinning around the next attack of the Deathstalker from its tail. The yellow tip slammed into the body exterior of the Deathstalker's claw, glancing up and giving Ren time to loop the blades of StormFlower around the tail. When the Deathstalker brought its tail up to attack again, he braced himself and pulled down as hard as he could, firing the twin guns to add momentum to the blow; the tip of the tail groaned and creaked for a moment then, with a _squelch_ slid clean off of the Grimm's body. The yellow spear dissolved into black Dust, and the Deathstalker shrieked in pain, writhing and sending Ren flying through the air. He curled up in the air, spinning until his feet landed against a tree branch and he rebounded to the ground.

Of course, this had all given Nora time to gather speed and get an opening. She was falling from high above, firing Magnihild behind her to get as much momentum going as possible before finally making contact with the last of the attacking Grimm. As she neared, she fired another blast and used the energy from the explosion to bring Magnihild around her even more quickly, slamming it into the Deathstalker's head with enough force to shatter stone. Old Deathstalkers are made of tougher stuff, however, and it merely fractured the bony mask of the Grimm. It shrieked in pain as Nora rebounded off of it, landing with an excited smile next to Ren.

Ruby slashed through the next pincer to attack her, cutting it cleanly in half and making it considerably less dangerous. Wordlessly, Jaune grabbed a hold of Ruby's spinning scythe and she whipped him around, letting him fly shield first into the Deathstalker's cracked face plate, completely shattering the last armor of the creature. This let Ruby jump up after Jaune, twirling her weapon to bring it down on top of the opening before firing a series of sniper bullets right into the newly weakened point. As soon as the second bullet was fired, the thick hide of the Deathstalker was punctured and it began to fade away to nothingness like the rest of its kind had. Crescent Rose crashed against the ground, Ruby still standing on top of it, as the last vestige of the Grimm's body faded away.

"Good job," Sora said, watching events with interest. He smiled and flashed a thumbs up at the proud, slightly panting group of warriors. He sounded impressed, though not awestruck. "I was expecting some great fighting from you guys, but I wasn't expecting that kind of teamwork. You guys are pretty good at this."

"Like I said: we're Huntsmen," Ruby said, stepping off of her scythe and glancing over at Sora again. She smiled and blushed regardless. "But you think so?"

"You could give some of my friends a run for their Munny," Sora said with a laugh. "And that's– wait, did you hear that?" There was another roar, louder and deeper now. He frowned and glared up at the forest as the trees began to bend over.

"Oh, no," Ruby muttered, twirling Crescent Rose back to a ready position. However, she was quickly thrown backwards as a Goliath, a huge, elephantine Grimm, punched through the trees and ran right for the star-boy. She tried to slash at it as she flew through the air, but the Grimm ignored the blow; it only cared about Sora. Ruby worriedly pushed herself to her knees, the world swaying from the force of the impact even still. "Sora! Run!"

"Why?" the boy asked with a laugh, raising his right hand behind him like he was about to throw a spear. There was a flash of light that originated in his hand and he threw his fist forward, sending the light blurring into a circle that sped towards the monster. Was this a semblance of some kind? Was he a... was he a hunter, too? As soon as the light reached the monster, the Goliath groaned and began to turn to black Dust, the remains of its life suddenly extinguished. The light spun out of the back of the Grimm, apparently having burrowed through its entire body. Then it disappeared, the light flaring up again.

The light simultaneously flashed in Sora's hand once more, leaving only a simple, gold and silver key the size of a sword draped across his shoulders. "Well, that was a nice warmup," he said, grinning at the four dumbfounded warriors. He glanced around, smiling even wider. "What's next?"

 _ **R**_ _ **W**_ _ **B**_ _ **Y**_

Sora frowned as he examined the clothing in the Patch Island store, a shop appropriately named the Patch Job with a patchwork shirt as its logo. He was used to outfits that were more fit for the warm, tropical climate of his home on Destiny Islands. Back there, if you couldn't swim in and go to school in it, it probably wasn't the right choice for your day to day wear. Of course, the weather in this region of the world known as "Remnant" was pretty chilly at the moment, with snow falling outside at that very moment. He'd noticed as they'd led him to the store; he'd been nearly frozen as they'd entered. Though that could also have been from the fact his clothes were mostly rags covering his body at that point.

"So..." Ruby muttered, rocking back and forth on her toes at Sora's side. She had been nice enough to offer to pay for the clothes, so Sora had agreed to answer her questions – of course, he would've done that anyways. She'd been pretty quiet for a good twenty minutes, though, unsure of what to say.

Sora turned and smiled at Ruby. "What do you need?" he asked before turning back to the pants. He tentatively picked up a black pair of jeans his size and tossed them over his shoulder. _These'll do. Oh, I need underwear_. He looked over at Ruby again and blushed. He didn't exactly want to buy them right in front of this girl, though...

"Well..." Ruby began, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly for a moment. Then she pounced forward, grabbing Sora by the shoulders and stopping him from looking at a shirt to by. " _Tell me all about your awesome weapon!_ "

"The... Keyblade?"

"Is that its name?" she asked, smiling widely. She looked _super_ excited.

"Well, that's _what_ it is. I think this one's name is the 'Kingdom Key,'" he explained. He paused for a moment and, honestly interested, asked "What about your weapon?" He hadn't seen someone use a scythe since... ever. Well, unless you counted the events that went down in Castle Oblivion, but Sora had only heard about that from Lea just a little while before the battle with Xehanort. The young Keyblade wielder sure didn't remember fighting the rest of Organization XIII, or a clone of Riku. He kind of wished he did – it sounded like a ton of fun, if occasionally sad.

"Crescent Rose," Ruby said, pulling the inactive crimson weapon from her belt. She cradled it lovingly, like a mother with a child. "She's my sweetheart. I built her myself."

"You built that?" Sora asked, leaning towards the weapon appreciatively. He laughed excitedly.

"Of course... didn't you build the Kingdom Key?" Ruby asked, glancing up.

"No... it... chose me," Sora said with a shrug. He grabbed a white shirt from the pile that looked to be the right size then continued on to the next area for a longer sleeved hoodie.

"That's how I feel about weapons, too!" Ruby squealed happily. She was excited someone understood how she felt. "They're extensions of who we are, of who we want to be! It's like they choose us just as much as we choose them!"

"I agree, but that's not what I meant. No, I mean it _literally_ chose me," Sora replied, flipping through the selection of sweatshirts for the right one. "I have a strong heart, so the Keyblade chose me to wield it."

"Ha! That's..." Ruby frowned at Sora's confused stare. "You're serious. The Keyblade chose you? How?"

Sora shrugged. "Well, it was supposed to go to my best friend Riku, but he... did some pretty bad things," he replied, saddened as he remembered his friends. He didn't even have a Gummi Ship to get back to them in. He smiled to himself, dispelling the sadness. Then he'd just have to wait for them to find him on Remnant, wouldn't he. "But he made up for it. Anyways, the Keyblade's connected to me."

"So where is it?" she asked, grabbing his hand and looking over it. "Where's the wire connecting you?"

Sora laughed. "I get why you'd think that," Sora said, pulling his hand away, blushing slightly. "I gave up trying to understand the _how_ a long time ago. I know it's not here, but if I want it to -" he held his arm out and light flared in his left hand, summoning the Keyblade to his hand once more "- it

comes to me."

"That. Is. So. _Coool!"_ Ruby squealed. She leaned over the Keyblade and began to examine it like a woman possessed. She walked along the length of the weapon and stared intently at the teeth for almost ten minutes. Finally: "Can I... Can I see it?"

Sora smiled and immediately handed the Kingdom Key over to the girl. He trusted Ruby – she had risked her life to save him, a complete stranger, without a second thought, so she couldn't be that bad. Besides, he could just summon the Keyblade back if worst came to worst.

Ruby tentatively took the weapon, holding the handle in her left hand and the end of the blade with her right hand. After a few moments of tracing the outline of the weapon, she gripped the handle with both of her hands, doing quick, expert maneuvers in the small area without hitting anything on the shelves. "It's weighted perfectly," she said, awestruck, as she stopped. She turned it upside down and held the Keychain in one hand. "And I mean _perfectly._ Like impossibly perfect."

"Yeah, magical weapons of infinite power will do that," Sora muttered, not quite loud enough for Ruby to hear.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied maybe a little too quickly while grabbing a red hoodie and putting it over his arm.

"What is this thing?" she asked, holding the Keychain up so Sora could see what she meant.

"Oh, that?" he asked. "Well, if I put different Keychains there, it'll change the Keyblade's shape and uses. Stronger hits, better magic."

"Pfft. There's no such thing as magic," Ruby said, laughing.

"Coming from someone who can turn into a torpedo of rose petals?" Sora jabbed jokingly.

"That's my semblance," Ruby replied. She frowned."You should know that. Unless... Where are you from?"

Sora froze and looked up, nearly panicking. "Uh... Uh..." he groaned, searching for an answer. Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, and Yen Sid's words ran through his mind aain – "Don't let the worlds know about other Worlds!"

"Uh... Far away?" he supplied.

Ruby frowned and leaned in, her eyebrows a 'V' of determination. Sora tried to swallow, but his throat was dry as she stared him down. Her hand came up, a single finger raised, and the entire world seemed to condense on that single fingertip. Sora felt more than a little afraid in that moment of the small girl his age. "Okay," she said, suddenly giving him space and laughing at his scared face. "You can tell me later. For now, what are you doing here, and how did you get here? I don't think I've ever seen someone survive becoming a shooting star."

"I'm following someone," Sora said, frowning. He grabbed a pair of fingerless gloves that reminded him of the ones he used to have, a pack of underwear, some socks, and a black vest before heading over to the shoes.

"A friend?" Ruby asked.

Sora shook his head and stared at the ground. "The opposite," he said, growling as the memory of Xehanort came to mind. "I know he came here, just a few seconds before me. But he wasn't around where I crashed... Speaking of, you haven't seen an evil, old bald man named Xehanort with yellow, burning eyes, a shattered sword with Keyblades on it, and an outfit that just screams 'I'm the bad guy!' have you?"

Ruby frowned and shook her head sadly. "Not unless you've seen a lady named Cinder who wears red Dust sewed into her clothes and goes around murdering and destroying everything in the world that represents good and order," she half-joked, half-growled as her own dark memories came to her mind. She shook her head to clear her head. "So, sorry, but no."

Sora nodded. "So you're chasing someone down, too, huh?" he asked. He looked away from the shoes after grabbing a pair of black ones with yellow accents.

"... Yeah."

Sora sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he and Ruby walked over to the register. He turned to the young woman as she paid and smiled. "You know, I think I'll help you," he said, standing up tall. "Well, as soon as I get my new clothes on. It's kind of cold here."

Ruby looked over to him as her card was taken, scanning lien from her account. "What!? No, I can't ask you to do that. It's too dangerous," she said, the Huntress in her urging her to keep Sora safe. Even if he had killed a Goliath by himself.

"Ruby, I can handle myself," he replied, obviously referring to the same moment. He grinned and collected the clothes from the counter. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," the guy at the register said.

"Thanks, Ruby," Sora said as they approached the changing rooms. He walked into the nearest one and began changing.

"Look, Sora, I can't ask you to come with us anyways. It's... this is a pretty big deal. People our age have already died," she explained sadly.

Sora didn't reply for a while. "I know what it's like to lose friends," Sora said quietly. He paused for a moment. "But the only way through is to trust other people. Believe me, I know."

"But still..." Ruby said. "It sounds like you really need to find this Xehanort guy."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I'm not just coming with you guys for your sake." Sora said, exiting the changing room. He had black fingerless gloves with white crossing over the tops in an 'X' pattern, a yellow and black belt attaching to two red pouches on his thighs, and a red and black sash of cloth from his old clothes wrapped around his waist as a belt. The black vest was open over the red hoodie, and his usual crown necklace was hanging just under the zipper that was just open enough to reveal the white shirt below. "I mean, I would, but I've found that helping people with their bad guys almost always leads to me finding mine. I mean, half of my job so far was just wandering around helping people until Xehanort or his goons stuck their noses where they didn't belong!"

"And what was your job?" Ruby asked.

Sora smiled proudly. "Making hope."

 _ **R**_ _ **W**_ _**B**_ _ **Y**_

"Burn I might," the tortured man said, looking up with tired, withered eyes. His voice was weak, rasping and hoarse from days without even the barest necessities in the flame-scorched hellscape he had come to call dungeon. "It is indeed easier to destroy trust and hope than it is to create them, and you are certainly a master at doing so. Perhaps even that smaller soul may not be capable of standing against you. Not alone."

His eyes hardened, filled with hope and a victorious smile stretching unhampered across his face. "But she will _not_ be alone, will she?

"Because those who embrace order, those who embrace Light..? They are never alone. They attract each other, across the universe. Indeed, it is as you said: humanity is nothing without hope, without each other. But the kind and honest, the kind of people who will inevitably rise against you? They _create_ hope.

"Make no mistake, in this war, we have not even made our first move yet. So send your Destroyers, your S _hadows,_ your M _onsters_. And when they fail? When you finally look upon this smaller, more honest soul? Know that _she_ will send _you_ to the same pitiful demise to which she sent your followers. This may be the beginning of the end. But another name for an end, Salem? A new beginning."

"We'll see," the woman retorted heatedly, her red eyes flaring up like the flames that surrounded her. She turned away from the headmaster of Beacon academy to stare up at the long shattered moon keeping vigil in the sky. A black streak shot over the remains of Remnant's satellite, causing the woman's face, covered in black, vein-like streaks from her eyes outward, to be graced with an equally dark, knowing smile. "We. Shall. _See_."

 **AN: So here it is, the first chapter of my Kingdom Hearts x RWBY crossover. I hope that this first chapter is enjoyable, and if it is please drop a review. I do want to say that, as a concept, I was inspired to start this when I started reading Light of Remnant by ImSoAwesome. If you haven't read that KHxRWBY crossover, you should. It's a really good story full of laughs, emotions, and great action sequences that all fit really well with both franchises. As soon as I started reading it, I nearly slapped myself – KH and RWBY are so similar thematically that they fit together almost naturally, and I was stunned I hadn't noticed before. Again, if you haven't read Light of Remnant, do it – it's great and about to wrap up its amazing story.**

 **Side note, this is the longest Fanfic chapter I've ever written, so I'm excited about that. I'm thinking this Fic will be updated less frequently than my others, but the chapters will be longer.**


	2. Dusty, Old Crow

**AN: In case you are one of the people who missed it last chapter because I, like a moron, forgot to post the name of the chapter on the first chapter, I'm going to tell you what it is. But first, wow, how did I forget that? I'd edited and rechecked everything like four times and I forgot that one simple thing. Anyways, Chapter 1 was known as** _ **The End**_ **, a reference to the last line of Ozpin in the first Chapter of this Fic. I felt so stupid replacing that just twenty minutes after actually posting it. If you aren't one of those first few viewers of the story or if you read it before and after I fixed that, welp... you knew. Sorry for rehashing.**

 _ **Chapter 2: A Dusty, Old Crow**_

Sora walked around with his hands clasped behind his head, staring up at the sky outside of his tent... which Ruby and her friends had also bought. He chuckled to himself. Sora knew he had a lot to repay them for already, so he was glad he was helping them find Cinder. From everything the four had told him, that woman was almost as dangerous as Xehanort at times. Jaune had been the one to see her in combat the most and seemed the most weary of her... but also the one with the most personal hatred of the villain. The group had been quiet about the specifics of what she had done to _them_ , and Jaune was even more quiet than the rest. All Sora knew was that the young man's face grew incredibly dark whenever the subject of Cinder Fall was brought up; she had hurt him personally. "She... killed someone we knew. A friend," Ren had explained eventually. He glanced down, then back up. "It hit Jaune the hardest." Sora may not have understood how Jaune felt, but he could imagine. He was sure he'd have had trouble holding himself together if Xehanort had actually been successful in killing either Riku or Kairi.

Riku and Kairi. Sora sighed and gazed at a single distant star, wondering if he was even looking in the right direction. It hurt to know he was in the middle of a world he had never seen before with no way to contact his friends. His friends had no chance of ever finding him. Sora smiled to himself: when had that ever stopped them before? Sora knew that, if he was anywhere a Gummi Ship could get to, they'd find him eventually, or he'd find them if he had to. Somehow. Sora sighed and shook the thoughts from his mind, knowing worrying about it when he couldn't do anything to fix it would be pointless.

Turning his mind to other matters, Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of red Dust. From what he understood, this stuff let people use something a lot like magic. Instead of using their own internal energy, this Dust supplied the energy for the Huntsmen's and Huntress's mystical abilities, as well as augmenting their own inherent preternatural abilities. Ruby and her friends called these skills a "Semblance," a skill that was unique to them. Sora thought it resembled magic more than anything else, letting them use their own energy to utilize a supernatural skill. They had let him borrow some to look at, to try and understand it. Not that he was making much headway – magical theory had always been Donald's strong point.

"Wow. And here I thought that the blonde didn't pay attention on watch," a voice grumbled from the darkness of the forest. Sora turned and looked down lazily, staring at where the voice was drifting from.

"I'm paying attention," Sora responded while pocketing the Dust. He walked towards the source of the voice and grinned. "Well. Mostly." Sora held his hand out towards the source of the voice and the Kingdom Key answered his call. "Now, who are you? Usually, only people who are trying to threaten my friends hide in the shadows."

A man in a white and gray shirt stepped out of the shadows. The sleeves of his shirt, which looked like a semi-formal coat, were rolled up to his elbows, revealing a charcoal inside that matched the collar of the shirt. The shirt itself was buttoned save for the top two buttons, opening in deep a 'V.' From the collar of the shirt drifted a tattered, angular cape. The tattered cloth was a blood red, not dissimilar from the color of Ruby's own cloak. The man wore black pants with matching, formal looking boots. The Stranger's face was an angry scowl, with gray and black bangs obscuring his red eyes and unkempt fuzz coating his jawline. There was a sword-like hunk of metal clipped to his lower back. "And in my experience, strangers who show up out of nowhere and randomly offer their help to sixteen year old girls usually don't have the best people for friends," the man replied menacingly. He pulled his sword from his back, the rest of the blade shooting out to nearly double its length. The Stranger raised his hand and flicked his bangs out of his eyes, letting them glare at Sora in all their cool fury. "So, maybe you deserve to be threatened, huh?"

Sora raised his Keyblade barely in time to block the incoming blow of the Stranger's sword, the move surprisingly fast given the size of the weapon. Sora grunted in exertion, struggling against the man's surprisingly powerful blow. The Stranger's thin form hid his deceptive strength rather well, just like Sora's own. The Keyblade wielder gasped in surprise when the Stranger spun around the blade lock and delivered a sharp kick to Sora's back, sending him flying away from the camp. Fast, strong, _and_ clever? It was looking to be a good fight.

Sora crashed through low hanging tree branches, each blow throwing off his attempts to right himself midair. Eventually, he tumbled to the ground and rolled to his feet, slamming the Keyblade into the ground to slow him as he continued to slide. When he came to a stop, he raised the Keyblade again to block the glowing Dust bullets flying at him from the rapidly approaching Stranger's weapon. "Reflect!" Sora shouted, the walls of light erupting around him and sending the projectiles back at the Stranger. He dodged the bullets and flicked his wrist, returning his weapon to its sword form.

"Who are you?" the Stranger snapped at Sora, delivering a flurry of attacks that Sora was even struggling to keep up with. Eventually, the Keyblade wielder saw an opening and took it, twisting with the force of the Stranger's attack and bringing his weapon down... on empty air.

"I was about to ask you the same thing!" Sora shouted, glancing around and seeing the other warrior standing in the treetops. Sora tensed his legs and jumped after the Stranger, bringing the Keyblade around him as he approached. The blow collided with the flat of the Stranger's weapon and he shoved back, sending Sora rebounding across the forest. His feet soon touched the branches of another tree.

Sora took a breath, steadying himself as he started to dip off of the tree. He swung the Keyblade out teeth first and used it to swing around the branch and flip to stand atop it. Another volley of Dust bullets flew at Sora from where the man stood and the Keyblade wielder batted them away as quickly as he could, ignoring the ones that were going wide. "I haven't had a fight this good in a while," the Stranger noted, already on the same branch as Sora. The Keyblade wielder's eyes widened in shock at the man's speed and he jumped from the branch on which he stood, barely dodging the blow of the man's sword. The weapon cleaved cleanly through the huge branch where Sora had stood just moments before, sending the wood tumbling down into the depths below. "You're pretty good."

"So are you," Sora admitted, panting as he pulled himself up onto another branch. The Keyblade reappeared in his hand and he raised the weapon in front of him. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you're not the best fight I've had recently."

"I don't care," the man said, pushing his bangs out of his eyes again. The Stranger was smiling now, though the same distrustful anger was still in his eyes. He raised his sword and jumped towards Sora.

The Keyblade wielder raised his weapon. "Freeze!" he shouted, sending an explosion of ice rushing at the mysterious swordsman. The man grunted in surprise, then again in pain as he hit the Blizzaga spell and it froze him solid. He began to fall, all momentum lost, and Sora grinned triumphantly.

Too soon, perhaps, as the ice shattered around the man, who landed heavily on the forest floor. The Stranger glared up at Sora, eyebrows together in an angry 'V.' "How's that possible?" he asked, raising his strange sword in front of him defensively. His red eyes were cautious now, worried. He was examining Sora, calculating the fight now. "I don't see any Dust on you, so it can't be that. And you used that wall earlier, so it can't be your Semblance..."

"There's that word again," Sora groaned, shaking his head. "Don't know what you're looking for here, but you can tell me after I beat you." Sora jumped from the branch right at the caped warrior, slashing at the man. The Stranger brought his weapon up and it bore the quick series of attacks, sending sparks flying into the air. Sora dashed backwards and let the Keyblade gather Light until it glowed, then sent it flying towards the attacking stranger.

The man's eyes widened and he dashed to the side, avoiding the spinning Strike Raid. Sora summoned the Keyblade back to his hand and let it fly again, crashing into the ground where the Stranger had been a moment before. He did this again and again until the man had made his way around Sora in a circle, rolling back to his feet where the first gash mark from the Keyblade's attack was still smoking. "You aren't making me think you're less dangerous," the man growled, taking a step towards the frustrated Keyblade warrior. "I -" the man was cut off by a roar in the distance. The two men screamed as they were then slammed into by a Goliath and sent flying over the forest below.

"I... Blame... YOU!" Sora screamed, voice becoming increasingly distant as the two of them flew through the air. Sora turned his Keyblade to the side, shooting a Firaga off and flying to intercept the other warrior. Their weapons crashed against each other with the _clink_ of metal on metal, trading blows as they continued to tumble away. "Who are you!?"

"The guy who is gonna beat you down," the Stranger replied, flicking his wrist and firing a series of shots at Sora. The Keyblade wielder scoffed in reply and raised a Reflect shield, deflecting the projectiles. At that, though, the Stranger grinned; as soon as the shield was down, Sora felt the edge of the weapon slam into his shoulder and send him tumbling downwards. He was thankful, for not the first time, that the Keyblade made him strong enough to resist blade edges. Still, it hurt, and crashing into the ground with enough force to leave an impact crater hurt even worse.

Sora groaned and pushed himself to his feet, drawing the Keyblade as he did. He glanced around, seeing that he – and his mysterious attacker – were together in a forest clearing. "Cure," Sora groaned, holding the Kingdom Key straight up and letting the green energy bathe his skin in its healing glow. Still: "Ow..."

"You're a tough one," the Stranger said as he landed softly on his feet just a short distance away. The man's huge sword-like weapon was still clutched in his hand. "If I trusted you, I'd say congratulations." He twisted his blade backhand and rushed at Sora, who raised the Keyblade to deflect the attack. He rushed forward as well, and brought his weapon up to collide with the sword. However, both Sora and the warrior stopped suddenly as there was an angry roar in the distance. The Stranger's weapon wavered side to side a few inches away from Sora's Keyblade. "Oh, what now?"

A mass of black and white began to flood into the clearing from all sides, creatures writhing across the ground like snakes, sprinting on all fours like wolves, and even huge ravens screaming as they flew through the sky.

Sora looked up at the Stranger. The Stranger looked down at Sora. The Stranger looked over at the approaching Grimm. Sora looked over at the approaching Grimm. Sora turned back to the Stranger. The Stranger returned his annoyed glare to Sora. The Grimm continued to rush towards the two. Sora sighed in annoyance and let his Keyblade drop to his side. The Stranger nodded in agreement after heaving his own heavy, annoyed sigh. Then the two turned at the same time and sprinted towards the approaching army of Grimm. "I've never seen this many Grimm congregating at once," the Stranger growled, annoyed. He dashed around an attack and dismembered a Beowolf before letting Sora cleave it in half. "Not to attack just two people."

The man's weapon began to whir, the blade extending and separating. The man turned on a dime, whipping the weapon around as the handle extended into a long, curved staff of red and black. Sora noted that there were gears in what had once been the handle of the weapon, grinding and whirring together as they caused the weapon to shift into its new form. The blade curved around as the weapon spun around its master, cleaving a half-dozen of the Grimm as they approached. "A scythe!" Sora said in surprise. Two days and he'd already seen two scythe wielders who had enough skill to not kill themselves using it.

"Quit gawking," the Stranger growled, letting the scythe roll over his shoulders to bisect an encroaching Griffon that was ready to attack Sora from behind. Sora nodded and returned the favor, jumping over the Stranger and jamming the blade of the Kingdom Key through the mask of an Alpha Beowolf. The creature turned to black Dust in moments and Sora shot a Firaga into the mass of monsters, burning them away.

"Thunder!" Sora shouted as he landed, raising the Keyblade above his head and calling down lightning. The electricity crashed into the ground with the sound of explosions, electrifying and killin most of the Grimm that surrounded him. There was a loud roar from above, and Sora glanced up at the approaching Nevermore.

"I need a boost!" Sora shouted at the Stranger, running at him and pointing up. The scythe wielder glanced up, quickly understanding what Sora meant, then looked back down and nodded before spinning his weapon around him to create a safe zone. He then let the weapon rest in his shoulders and crouched, letting Sora jump on top of the handle of the scythe before jumping up and giving the boy the boost he needed to jump on his own and fly upwards at the Nevermore.

"I cry fowl!" Sora shouted as he approached the huge bird. "Ha. Get it?" The Nevermore didn't respond. "Eh, tough crowd." Sora reached out to grab the huge bird, letting his hand run through the creature's feathers to stop him so he could land on its back. "Time to make you a flightless bird." He slashed down with the Keyblade, cutting through the wing of the huge creature.

The Nevermore shrieked in pain, twirling through the air as it lost its balance with the loss of its wing. Sora whooped excitedly as the bird plummeted downward, the young man holding onto its feathers and twirling his weapon above his head. "Waaaahoooo!" he screamed, bringing his weapon down again to slash off the other wing. The Nevermore screeched, its life slipping away from it to fade away into black Dust once again. "Oh, ride's over?" Sora sighed and jumped from the decaying Grimm, landing on the back of a nearby Griffon. Slicing its head off, he jumped to the next, repeating the process again and again until landing in the horde once more.

"Impressive," the Stranger admitted as he beheaded an Ursa and began rapidly spinning his scythe to gain momentum, eventually stopping and letting the razor sharp weapon slice a Deathstalker into two uneven pieces.

"Right back at you," Sora muttered, catching the jaws of a Beowolf on his Keyblade before kicking off its chest and freezing it solid. He twisted as he flew through the air, beheading a huge Ursa as he passed it.

Sora rolled as he hit the ground and groaned. This was taking too long. "It's like Radiant Garden all over again," he groaned as he cut off the arm of a Beowolf and shot a Graviga onto another nearby group of Boarbatusks, the hog-like Grimm squealing as they were crushed beneath their own suddenly massive weight. Finally, he sighed and raised his Keyblade. "STOP!"

The area around Sora went silent as the spell worked its, ahem, magic. The Grimm were frozen, though neither Sora nor the Stranger were. "It's only temporary," Sora told the Stranger when he saw the 'time to fight' glint in the man's eye. "Monsters first, fight later." Sora turned and began hacking away at the countless monsters.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby was suddenly awoken by the noise of a screeching Nevermore not too far away. "What was that!?" she asked, dashing out of her tent with scythe at the ready. She looked around and frowned worriedly. Someone was missing. "Where's Sora?"

"Uh, Ruby?" Jaune said, dumbfounded and staring past her.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, looking over at the blonde.

"Um..." he said, before he pointed at the sky. Ruby raised an eyebrow, but she did as he suggested and turned to gaze off into the distance. Her jaw immediately dropped and she understood just what had surprised Jaune into a stupor.

Ruby was watching, dumbstruck, as a Nevermore in the distance began to tumble from the sky, one of its wings separated from its body. It was surrounded by a cloud of screeching Griffons, all of them swarming the body. There was another hideous screech as the Grimm's other wing was torn off, dissolving into dust as soon as it was separated from the Grimm's transient body. The creature began trailing black Dust as it fell, going the same way as its appendage. "So... he's over there, you think?"

"Seeing as he's the only one I've ever seen do something like that, it's probably a safe bet," Jaune muttered. He grimaced as the Nevermore shrieked, then glanced over at Ruby. "So I think we should go over there and help him, seeing as _that_ is a lot of Grimm."

There was a collective roar of death as the Nevermore crashed, the noise of hundreds of Grimm dying at once. "I don't think he needs it," Nora supplied. Lightning fell from the sky, and even more Grimm screamed as they died. "I _reaaaally_ don't think he needs it."

"Still... it wold be interesting to see more of how he fights," Ren countered. There was an explosion in the distance. "Very interesting."

Ruby grinned giddily and twirled her scythe to its sniper format. "Then let's go!" she shouted eagerly. "I can't wait to see that Keyblade thingy in action again!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora dashed to the side, barely dodging the whirlwind strike of the Stranger's scythe. The two of them had long before annihilated the remains of the Grimm horde, and the Stranger had quickly turned on the Keyblade wielder again. "Oh, come on, we were working so well together!" Sora shouted, flipping horizontally over the Dust bullets the man fired. Sora used the momentum of his spin to bring the Keyblade crashing down on the Scythe's blade.

The Stranger smiled happily at that and twirled the scythe again, easily pulling the Keyblade from Sora's hand and sending it flying. Sora jumped backwards, flipping to land on his hands and handspring out of the extended reach of the scythe again. Sora landed on his feet, summoning his Keyblade back to his hand as he crouched. The Stranger's eyes widened in surprise as the weapon flashed back into Sora's hand; he glanced over his shoulder at where the Keyblade should have landed and saw it was gone. "That's an interesting trick," the Stranger said, running towards Sora with the blade of his scythe dragging behind him.

Sora brought his Keyblade up to block the incoming blow, causing it to rebound off of his weapon. The Stranger used that force to spin around and attack faster than most could block. As it was, even Sora barely blocked the blow in time and stumbled to the side when the scythe crashed against the Keyblade. Sora brought the Keyblade up as he turned and shot a Firaga at the Stranger. He brought the scythe down, slicing through the spell while firing another volley of Dust bullets at Sora again. The Keyblade wielder batted them back at the Stranger and rushed forward, bringing the Keyblade around in a sweeping strike that collided with the handle of the scythe. Sora flipped, using the weapons connection as a pivot, and snap-kicked the Stranger's head. Sora flipped through the air and rolled back to his feet, even as the Stranger fell to his back.

"Not bad," the scythe wielder grunted, pushing himself up to his feet. His red eye glinted as he grinned at Sora. "Oz always said you'd be strong, though I have to admit that I am a _little_ underwhelmed."

"Then I guess I should try and turn it up," Sora replied. He closed his hand above his heart and shut his eyes. "Give me strength..." He let his chin fall to his chest and concentrated, then he looked up with a grin. The air around him flew outward with an explosion of light.

The Stranger covered his eyes with one hand, flinching backwards instinctively. "What the?" he gasped and brought his scythe up to catch the weapon that suddenly flew at him. He stumbled backwards from the force of the attack and frowned. The kid hadn't been that strong just a second ago. He jumped to the side when he saw a blur dash into the air above him, escaping a blow that left a huge crater in the ground. When the dust cleared, the Stranger saw Sora standing at the center of the crater. All of his clothes had turned a red much brighter than the one his jacket had been moments before, and there were white and black _fleur de lis_ on his shoulders and pant legs. In Sora's off hand was another Keyblade, this one purple and gold. The teeth were a gold moon curled around a star. A gray series of stars ran up the blade and ended at the wing shaped basket that curled around Sora's hand and ended in another star. The chain at the hilt ended in the same golden moon that the teeth contained.

"I wasn't sure I could do this anymore," Sora noted as he jumped out of the crater and landed in front of the scythe wielding warrior. "Good to know it's still an option. Now... how about we see how round three goes, hm?" Sora rushed towards the Stranger, twirling his twin Keyblades as he approached his opponent.

The Star Seeker collided with the scythe first, sending it spinning. The Stranger held on to the weapon and brought it around with the attack, only to have the attack blocked by the Kingdom Key. He huffed in pain when Sora brought the Star Seeker crashing into his chest. He growled in pain and surprise, tumbling through the air. As he landed, he twisted his scythe and brought it back to its sword form. It would be easier to defend against the strikes with the smaller weapon, but it still wouldn't be easy to hold up. He had to find a way to beat this kid, which was becoming a more and more difficult prospect with every surprise.

The Stranger brought his sword up just in time to block the strike from the Kingdom Key, reinforcing his weapon with his other arm. This left him open to the Star Seeker again, but the Stranger flipped over his weapon by the handle, tearing it from the blade lock and letting Sora's Keyblades crash against each other. The blow resulted in a loud, metallic clang followed by an explosion of air the scythe wielder tumbling through the air.

As he regained his senses, he raised his sword up and let the Keyblades crash against the flat of his blade. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" he asked dryly while the Keyblade wielder pressed down on him. "Oz didn't say anything about two of these swords." Sora raised the Keyblades and brought them down again with enough force to shatter stone, the blow instead only causing the ringing of a bell against the Stranger's weapon. The Stranger grunted in discomfort as the force of the blow ran through him and into the ground. He knew by now that his Aura reserves were likely running dry, and it seemed like this kid was nowhere near tiring out. He growled to himself – _You're not old, just yet._

"Oz? Who is that?" Sora asked, still slamming his Keyblades into the Stranger's blade. "I don't have time for games. Is that what Xehanort calls himself here?"

"Xehanort?" the Stranger growled. As the Keyblades came up again, he activated the transformation of his blade. The Keyblades came down between two segments of the weapon and it retracted, trapping them inside. The Stranger pushed up and brought the weapon around, firing Dust bullets at Sora as he was dragged behind the weapons.

The Keyblade wielder grunted in pain as each of the blasts collided with his face, burning slightly. Then the man activated his weapon's transformation again and tossed Sora at full speed into a nearby rock formation. Sora yelped as the stone shattered upon impact and he bounced across the ground. When he came to a rest, fragments of the shattered stone rained down on him, slashing through his arms. "Ow," he grumbled, uneasily putting his hands beside his head and springing to his feet in a single movement. He turned back to where the Stranger had been and summoned his Keyblades defensively.

"Nice try," the Stranger growled from behind him. Sora gasped in surprise before catching the weapon in his side again. He fell down and bounced off the ground from the sheer force before taking a heavy dropkick from the man and crashing into a nearby wall of dirt and stone created when the Nevermore's remains had crashed to the earth. "But they don't give out medals for trying in the real world, kid."

Sora groaned and pushed his way out of the stone and dirt that had covered him. He groaned in disappointment when he noticed that he had dropped out of his Valor Form, now back in his normal clothes. "Oh, come on," he sighed, summoning the Keyblade and cutting his way out of the pile. "Okay, you want some? Bring it on!" Sora clutched at his chest, reaching for that same energy to transform once more. However, his breath caught and he fell to his knees. He couldn't do it, even though he'd done it just moments before.

He glanced up at the approaching Stranger. It was obvious the warrior wasn't going to waste this opportunity of a newly weakened Sora, as his weapon was once again in the shape of a scythe and ready to cleave the young man in two. Sora angrily raised his Keyblade above his head and waited until the man drew near. He looked down and shut his eyes, hoping he would be in time. "Stop!"

Sora waited with bated breath for pain, but none came. He opened his eyes slowly and breathed a sigh of relief: the tip of the scythe had been stopped just above his forehead. The Keyblade wielder fell to his back and raised the Keyblade again. "Heal," he groaned. The green light flashed above him, renewing his strength. "Ow. I'll add this – you're the best one on one fight I've had in a while. If my friends were here, this would've been a _lot_ easier, though."

The man didn't reply, frozen in time as he was. "Okay, let me just get up," Sora groaned, sitting up. He grabbed hold of the scythe's handle and used it to pull himself to his feet. "Thanks." Sora sighed and raised the Keyblade in front of him, holding it directly at the Stranger's throat. "Maybe now you'll answer some of my questions."

"I doubt it," the man replied as the magic wore off. He sighed and deactivated his weapon. "You can torture me however you want, but I'm not giving up Oz."

"Torture?" Sora asked. He dropped the Keyblade to his side. "I – I'd never do something like that."

"Sora! Sora are you – Uncle Qrow!?"

Sora looked over his shoulder at Ruby. She looked surprised and worried... for Sora. "Uncle!?" he asked, glancing over at his assailant. "Qrow!?"

The scythe wielder wasted no time, looping his scythe around Sora's throat. "Finally got you," he said.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouted, rushing forward. She grabbed her weapon from her belt and twirled it until it was at the ready. Qrow easily leaped away from her attack, still holding Sora by the throat. "Let him go!"

"Ruby, stay out of this," Qrow growled, keeping out of her way. He pulled the weapon closer to Sora's throat and the Keyblade wielder gulped nervously as the metal touched his skin.

"So, is all your family like this?" Jaune asked Ruby, sword and shield still drawn and at the ready. "Or just Yang and your uncle?"

"Uhm... heh?" Ruby replied with an embarrassed smile. She sighed and deactivated her scythe while turning back to her uncle. "Uncle Qrow, let him go."

"That's not an option, kiddo," he replied, pulling the weapon closer to Sora's throat. "I... don't trust him."

"Well I do," Ruby said simply, walking up to her uncle and crossing her arms.

Qrow stared down at her, jaw shaking angrily. "Urgh. Fine," he growled. There was a whir as the gears in the scythe shifted. The metal retracted and folded up once again, segments of the blade slowly clicking together. He twirled the weapon at his side and clipped it to the back of his belt beneath his cape. "But only because you're giving me puppy eyes, Ruby."

"Thanks," Sora whispered lamely, rubbing the line on his throat where the scythe had been pressed a moment before. He glanced over his shoulder again. "This guy's your... Uncle?" He looked down at Ruby's inactive weapon, then over at Qrow's. "I can see the resemblance."

"So I suppose you're going to want to talk," Qrow asked his niece, crossing his arms and sighing. Ruby nodded. "Great."

"One more thing," Ruby said seriously. She smiled widely and shrieked, hopping from side to side. "It's so good to see you!" She jumped forward and hugged the man, making the two fall over onto the dirt.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Tai's been worried sick ever since you disappeared," Qrow said as he sat near the fire. He groaned and clutched at his side before casting an angry glare in Sora's direction. He looked back over at Ruby and shook his head. "He would want me to take you back."

Ruby was quiet. "How's Yang?" she finally asked meekly, staring at her lap.

Qrow shrugged. "Same as she was. Not herself," Qrow said with a shrug. "Sullen and angry with bruised pride, letting something small stop her."

"Uncle Qrow," Ruby snapped.

"It's the truth, Ruby. She lost her arm, not her life; that never even stopped General Jimmy from fighting," he replied with a heavy sigh. "Your sister isn't showing that strength Tai keeps saying she has."

"I know," Ruby mumbled, losing herself in though. She looked up at her uncle. "But she will."

"If you say so," the Huntsman replied with a shrug. He looked over at Jaune, Nora, Ren, and finally Sora. "I've got more important things to worry about right now, Ruby. Including your friend here."

"Why _were_ you attacking him?" Jaune asked before taking a bite of the chicken Ren had cooked. He coughed and nearly threw up when he tried to swallow the "food," which he promptly tossed away. "How do you ruin _chicken_?" Ren narrowed his eyes. "But you're a hunter, and Sora's... whatever Sora is."

"Yes, that's exactly why," Qrow growled. He turned to Sora and narrowed his eyes. "I know almost everyone who fights as well as you do, and none of them are a seventeen year old kid." He glanced between the kids faces, as if remembering something. "Anymore... So I wasn't excited when someone I didn't know or understand just showed up out of nowhere to get close to my niece."

Sora and Ruby blushed and looked at each other. "I... no. No it wasn't like that, I was just trying to be helpful!" Sora said nervously. He groaned and slammed his face into his hands. He sighed and looked up. "I just wanted to help out and find the guy I'm chasing down."

"That Xehanort guy you mentioned?" Qrow asked. He frowned. "I don't recognize the name, and I know about most of the big players in the criminal underworld, especially since the attack on Beacon."

"If you ever meet him, don't challenge him to a fight," Sora told the scythe wielder.

"I think I can take care of myself," Qrow scoffed. He gestured at Sora himself for evidence.

"Yeah, and I barely beat him when I was teamed up with eight of the best warriors in the universe," Sora said. He froze, hoping they didn't catch that.

"Really?" Qrow asked, narrowing his eyes. Sora nodded, breathing a quiet sigh of relief when it appeared he hadn't been found out. "Well, tell me what he looks like and I'll give you a call when I find him."

"He's an old bald guy with yellow eyes who dresses like a villain. It wouldn't be easy to miss him even if you weren't looking," Sora explained. He stood up and placed his hands into his pockets. He grunted in surprise, pulling the Dust container from his pocket. "Forgot about... this?" It was empty.

"Something wrong?" Qrow asked the kid.

"I... no. Thanks, I'd love some help to find Xehanort. He's dangerous," Sora said, pocketing the empty vial again. How had he used up Dust? The stuff wasn't used in any of his magical attacks – his strike raid on the Goliath was evidence enough for that. The vial must have just broken. "Dangerous enough to destroy the entire world on his own."

"I've been acquainted with the type," Qrow responded. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Well, now that I'm on the lookout for him, you don't have to hang around my niece and her friends."

"What?" Ruby asked, surging to her feet. "Why can't he stay with us?"

"There's no point if he doesn't need you to help him find his guy," Qrow responded without standing up. He leaned forward with his hands on his knees and growled. "I won't have you traveling around with some strange kid who fell from the sky. Especially if some crazy monster is going to try and kill him."

Ruby opened her mouth to snap at her uncle, but was cut off by Ren. "How did you know he fell from the sky?"

Qrow glanced over at the young ninja and growled. "You've been following us?" Nora asked. " _Creepy_. How come we didn't see you?"

"I'm a professional Huntsman, sweetheart," Qrow replied, a cocky smirk appearing on his face. "I don't get seen."

"Uncle Qrow, answer the question," Ruby demanded.

"Fine. Yes, I've been following you," he replied, finally standing up. He pulled a flask from his belt and began to chug the contents. "Forgive me for worrying about my niece, I must be out of line. Look, I was already heading for Haven. I just wanted to make sure you got at least a good start without dying."

"You don't think we could handle it?" Ruby snapped indignantly. She huffed and crossed her arms. "Gee... Thanks."

"You have a way of attracting people even _I_ wouldn't like dealing with," the scythe wielder explained to placate her anger. "You're strong, Ruby, but Cinder is in a whole other league. I wasn't going to let a bunch of kids try to fight her."

"Well, then Sora should totally stick with us," Ruby said. "He's strong and she won't be expecting him – less than she'd be expecting you, at least."

"Yes, his skill is incredible," Ren supplied simply. He walked over to Jaune and tried to get him to eat more of the chicken.

"Amazing," Jaune agreed while angrily waving off his team mate's cooking. Ruby was glad that Jaune had improved over the past months, otherwise the sudden appearance of the incredibly strong Sora would have made the blonde boy sullen. His time with Pyrrha had obviously shown him he should instead learn from someone like that. "We're safer with him than with anyone."

"Except he's an unknown. And unknown variables can be more dangerous known bad ones," Qrow growled in explanation.

"Sora is staying with us," Ruby said. She turned to the young Keyblade wielder, who was still blushing. "Tell him."

Sora grinned sheepishly. "I... don't want to cause an argument between family," he explained. "But Ruby's right. I'm not leaving my friends hanging."

"You've known them for all of one day. You're not their friend," Qrow growled, grabbing the Keyblade wielder by the cuff of his sweatshirt. The fire crackled at the man's heels.

Sora narrowed his eyes and grabbed the scythe wielder's hands. One by one, he pried the fingers loose. "They _are_ my friends," Sora explained as he tore the pinkies off of him and dropped to the ground. "They've already done so much for me, so I'll be helping them whether you like it or not, okay? So I suggest, you get used to the fact that I want to help Ruby, or just learn to deal with it, because I'm not abandoning my friends after I've already promised to help them."

"I could fight you over this," Qrow growled, hand already on the handle of his scythe-sword.

"Cause that turned out _so_ well last time," Sora replied, Keyblade appearing in hand. The metal teeth cast the image of a crown – _The one on his necklace_ , Qrow noted in amusement – onto the forest. "I'm not leaving them, because they want me around. Friends don't abandon friends, even if someone wants them to."

Qrow examined the faces of the four children around him. They were all very serious and, in Ruby's case especially, looked ready to go to war over this. Qrow knew he'd underestimated his niece; she wasn't just a little girl. He'd trusted her to run to Haven by herself so he could trust her with this. He had trained her, after all, so what was there to worry about? And if push came to shove... Qrow was certain she'd figure out some way to call on those Silver Eyes one more time. "Walk with me," Qrow growled at Sora, turning from the group and making his way for the edge of camp.

Sora frowned and looked over at Ruby. "Are you okay?" he asked. "I know he's your uncle, so -"

"Oh, he's just being overprotective," Ruby said, chuckling to herself. "Even highly trained warriors can get scared I guess."

Sora laughed. "Definitely," he said, turning back to Qrow. "I'll go see what he has to say. Oh, by the way, do you have any more of that Dust stuff? The vial I have must have gotten broken during my fight with Qrow."

"Hm... I don't think any of us can spare any extra right now," the Huntress-in-training replied, frowning and . "We were already running low, but I bet we can get some more on the way to Haven. There are bound to be some settlements with Dust shops between here and there in the Kingdom."

"Works for me. Maybe I'll even find a way to pay you guys back," Sora said with a grin.

Ruby scoffed and blushed. "Oh, there's no need," she stammered.

"Don't worry. I want to," Sora said. He grinned at the young woman and laced his fingers behind his head. "It's a promise, Ruby." He turned and ran over to Qrow, leaving Ruby to smile shyly after him.

"Ooooooh," Nora said, playfully mocking the red cloaked girl.

"Oh, shut your face," Ruby muttered, pulling her hood low over her head in order to hide her blushing cheeks. "Go talk to your boyfriend or something."

"Ren and I aren't _together_ together!" Nora said nervously, chasing after the young scythe wielder and nervously waving her arms. "Why does everyone think that?"

 _ **R W B Y**_

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Sora asked, walking beside the scythe wielder. The Keyblade wielder had his fingers interlocked behind his head, smiling while he walked through the forest. "You know, that you didn't want Ruby to hear."

Qrow stammered and turned, sweeping his arms apart in a show of denial. "That's not – ugh," the veteran warrior groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose while Sora laughed at him. "Fine, you're right. You're not from around here – by which I mean, you aren't from Remnant, are you?"

It was Sora's turn to stammer and freeze. "N-n-no. That's not -"

"You said 'universe,' kiddo," Qrow pointed out. "And don't start trying to pass it off as 'I meant Remnant when I said universe,' because I'm not nearly as blindly trusting as my niece is. In fact, I'm more of the... distrustful type."

Sora studied Qrow's smirking face for a while. "I don't think that's quite true," Sora said, eyes fixed intently on Qrow's. The scythe wielder flinched back, disturbed by the confidence with which the young man had said it. Instead of responding through, he just narrowed his eyes intently, so Sora continued with his thought. "So you want to know about who I am."

"And why you lied to my niece. I'd make it good, too, because I would rather not go blow for blow again when Ruby is this close by," Qrow snapped, drawing his blade and holding it at Sora's throat. "Otherwise... well, I'm willing to bet that you get the idea."

"No need to threaten me, I'll tell you what you want to know," Sora said, heaving a sigh. He crossed his arms in front of him and sighed. "Master Yen Sid'll kill me for this. Keyblade wielders aren't supposed to let people know about other worlds, but there's not much choice if I want to help Ruby, is there?" Qrow growled an affirmative, making Sora chuckle and scratch the side of his head. "Well, I'm Sora. As you've guessed, I'm not from your world. I'm a Keyblade wielder, someone dedicated to saving the Worlds – all the worlds – from Darkness. Basically, bad guys and monsters called the Heartless. Though, this world seems to come with its own brand of evil."

"The Grimm," Qrow muttered.

"Yeah," Sora said. "They're a little like the Heartless. Less dangerous, though. Heartless steal Hearts; they make people into more of them."

"That's... worrisome," Qrow said, stroking his chin and considering what Sora said. "If the Grimm were like that..? Or if these creatures made their way to Remnant? Well, I get where you got your fighting abilities, I suppose... Keep going."

"I come from another world, a place called Destiny Islands. When I was fourteen, it was destroyed by the Heartless. They devoured its Heart, sending everyone living there across the worlds, including me and my best friends, Riku and Kairi. It turns out, it was Xehanort's fault. But he was calling himself Ansem back then, except that was inside Riku's body..? It... never mind. Anyways, with the help of my new friends Donald and Goody we found a way to defeat him and bring all the worlds back. Didn't stop Xehanort from failing two more times, and apparently fighting against me and my friends wasn't even the first time. He'd been prowling around trying to take over the worlds for decades by the time we met for the first time. He hurt tons of people along the way, including my friends."

"So you fought him? Barely a kid, and you fought the most dangerous criminal in the universe?" Qrow asked. "Tch. Forgive me if that sounds a little nuts."

"More nuts than a seventeen year old falling from the sky like a comet?" Sora asked. He smirked at the older warrior and crossed his arms.

"Touche," Qrow admitted with a shrug.

"Then it's your turn: why did you want to kill me so bad?" Sora asked. He grinned. "And don't give me the whole 'I didn't like the idea of a strange kid around my niece' thing you gave me earlier. You brought up that 'Oz' guy twice during our fight, and Ruby once. It wasn't about her."

"You're more observant than I gave you credit," Qrow said, one eyebrow up. He looked subtly impressed of the kid.

"I told you I was paying attention," Sora said. He grinned and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Mostly."

Qrow sighed and began to walk down the path again, Sora close behind. "Oz was – is... a friend. We go way back, and he's always known what we were fighting before our worst enemies even knew they were in a fight. Ozpin was the headmaster of Beacon."

"Was?"

"The school – Beacon – it was destroyed. As for Ozpin? He disappeared, and I haven't been able to track him down," Qrow explained. He narrowed his eyes and growled at the young Keyblade wielder. "And I'm _very_ good at tracking people down."

"So who took him?" Sora asked, eager to help however he could. Maybe he could get Qrow to trust him if he helped find this 'Ozpin.'

"Whoever ordered the attack on Beacon," Qrow replied. He leaned back, placing his back against a tree and sighing. Sora finally noticed just how exhausted the Hutsman looked, heavy set lines beneath his eyes and his shoulders slumped. The Huntsman pulled a flask from his belt and unscrewed the top with his thumb; he chugged the entirety of the contents in a single gulp. Qrow closed the flask and wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt. "Which is why I wanted to talk to you, actually."

"Hey, I didn't have anything to do with it!" Sora assured the scythe wielder.

Qrow laughed. "Tch. No, I'm starting to understand that," he said with a grin. "But, before he disappeared, Oz _did_ say someone with one of those Keyblade things was behind all of this."

Sora's eyes widened. "Xehanort!" he growled. He slammed his fist into a nearby tree trunk and slapped his forehead. Sora growled, then yelled at himself. "I should have known! Of course he's involved! He always is."

"Xehanort? You keep talking about this guy and people are going to ask questions," Qrow joked. Then he frowned and his face grew serious. "He's dangerous enough to plan an attack when he's not even on Remnant?"

"Dangerous enough to _destroy_ Remnant when he's not even here," Sora replied, turning a scowl towards Qrow. "He's a Keyblade Master – a _real_ master. I'm... still 'in training,' to give you an idea of what that means."

Qrow palled and chuckled nervously. "That's... no big deal," he managed to growl, his courage unconvincing. "So you think he's been here before."

"He always did like long term plans," Sora said, taking his hand from the tree and running it through his hair. He groaned and began to scratch the back of his neck when his hand reached it. "He probably has tons of backup plans on tons of different worlds. Nothing's ever stopped him from hunting down Kingdom Hearts before, especially not something as small as a defeat."

Qrow considered this for a moment. "Well, I guess that's a good enough answer," the scythe wielder admitted, pushing off from the tree and sighing. "If this Xehanort guy is _half_ as dangerous as you say, he may very well be behind this whole thing. And if that's the case, it would be best if someone who can go toe to toe with him is around my niece. She has a way of getting herself wrapped up in the middle of things she has no business dealing with."

"She can handle herself," Sora told the Huntsman.

"That's what she keeps saying," Qrow laughed. "And yet, I was the one who found her unconscious after freezing a dragon Grimm solid. She is special, Sora, so if she gets a _single_ hair on her head hurt, you'll have to answer not only to me... but to her dad and her sister. I'm tougher than them, but one's her dad and the other's her half-sister who helped raise her. I wouldn't push your luck."

"I don't let my friends get hurt," Sora retorted, crossing his arms and glaring back at the Huntsman. Then Sora grinned and held out his hand. "Even you, Qrow."

The Huntsman took a step back, surprised by the innocent, wide eyed smile the young man had plastered to his face. "Tch," Qrow said, looking at the ground and shaking his head. "Why not?" Qrow reached out and clasped hands with the Keyblade wielder. "I'll be watching, so no funny moves, kid, or I'll be back with a vengeance."

Sora stammered and pulled against the man's hand. "It's – not like that!"

"She not good enough or something?" Qrow asked, laughing as the kid's eyes went wide and he stammered even more.

"Dusty, old crow," Sora finally managed to grumble.

"I'm not old!" Qrow snapped in retort. This only succeeded in drawing more derisive laughter from the Keyblade wielder. "I'm _not old!_ "

 _ **R W B Y**_

Cinder did not like being sent out for something as small and insignificant as a retrieval mission. She had been the one to unleash the Dragon Grimm upon that fool Ozpin's school. She had been the one to kill the Fall Maiden and thus gain the power of the maidens. She was one of the most powerful beings on Remnant, now. She had been the one trusted to plan the destruction of Ozpin's plans and the CCT. But now she and her faction were being sent out to merely look for a shooting star? It was an insult to be treated like that, and even worse it was as if _she_ had forgotten all the work Cinder had done for her.

"Are we there yet?" the silver haired Mercury Black asked. Cinder turned to him with a glowing, angry glare. He wore black running pants, with black greaves filled with silver dust shotgun pellets. Cinder and the other girl, Emerald Sustrai, knew that beneath those weapons were two incredibly advanced and powerful cybernetic prosthetics. His legs had been destroyed in a battle with his father some time before, but the boy didn't seem to mind. He almost preferred it. His torso was covered by a black battle shirt that became a silvery blue that continued down to his waist. Armor of a silver that matched his hair covered his arms in two segments, ending with black fingerless gloves. An ornate, boot and wing shape was embroidered onto a war-mark that hung from the right side of his belt. He raised his hands defensively and, in a way that showed he was sorry despite his sarcastic tone, said, "Sorry."

"You idiot!" the other girl, Emerald, hissed. Her hair was the same color as her name, though her eyes were an almost ruby red. Her skin was dark and exotic, a sharp contrast to the incredibly pale partner she had in Mercury. Emerald wore a green and white crop top, the white starting just below her chest and wrapping around her throat and arms while the green covered her chest itself. She wore a gray, metallic band on her left arm and green battle gloves that covered her palm and the top of her head, wrapping only around her middle finger. Her brown belt held up matching leather riding pants over her cream colored jeans that ended just below her knees. Gladiator flats wrapped up to the center of her shins, the look of a woman ready for battle. Kurasigama guns the same shade as her hair were holstered in an 'X' across the small of her back. "We'll be there when we get there!"

"Oh, calm down, I was only asking," Mercury flippantly told the girl, waving his hand dismissively. "No need to get your panties in a bunch."

Emerald turned a tint of red matching her eyes. "Shut up, you idiot pig!"

Mercury grinned. "Tch. You want me," he said, drawing only more angry yelling from Emerald. Mercury smiled, appreciating the woman's angry yapping.

"Enough," Cinder snapped, an ephemeral glow in the shape of a wing coming from her eye; a miniature sun appeared in her hand. Cinder Fall, the most wanted woman in two of the Four Kingdoms, was not amused by her underlings' arguing.

Cinder wore an ornate red dress, the arms laced with red and yellow dust that traced in ornate patterns and glowed with her power. Her black hair fell down one of her shoulders and accented her beautiful, if cold and unfeeling, face. Her dress flared off in a tail behind her and revealed most of her legs, enough to make most men stare like fools. Her red and black heels gave her another couple inches for an imposing height of 5 feet 11 inches. Her right ear had a simple, golden hoop in it that glinted in her firelight. "Be silent and obey, or it won't be pretty."

Mercury shrugged to hide his fear while Emerald bowed deeply, always the more respectful and deferential of the two. Mercury was in this for the fun, Emerald because she worshiped the ground on which Cinder walked. Even Cinder could see they were an odd couple. "Why aren't we going after Red?" Mercury asked a moment later.

"Because this is more important," Cinder said, turning away and walking away.

"Than someone who can beat a Grimm the size of Beacon?" Mercury inquired. He immediately regretted it, falling backwards when Cinder slapped him to the side.

"Much," she hissed, drawing a visibly scared reaction even from the young man. "Don't. Question me."

"I... yes," Mercury said, glancing at the ground. He was afraid and ashamed.

"I approve," a slimy, rotten voice said. Cinder turned to the source of the voice, fireballs the size of skulls in her hands. It was an old man who said it, standing atop a stone outcropping near the group of criminals.

The old man had eyes of blazing yellow and filled with pure, unadulterated hatred for everything around him. He looked hungry, like he wanted to devour the universe and use the leftovers as a plaything. He was bald, showing more of his skin, which was of a similar shade to Emerald's. He had the notorious 'bad guy' goatee of pure white. He wore a deep black, leather trench coat over a white tunic. Two belts looped around his waist, one above the other, to keep it tight on his chest. One would think that, given his age, the tautness of the shirt would reveal his frailty. Instead, it revealed he was still very much a danger to anyone who fought him. White gloves covered his hands, reaching all the way up to his elbow. He wore black, angular boots that seemed to eat the light around him. Clasped to his back was a shattered weapon.

In the man's hand was a twisted, black weapon. It was built in the shape of a key, but it looked like it was built out of pure darkness. A demonic eye was placed at the end, and there was a devilish face built into the hilt. The basket was made of two, inward facing demon wings. A chain extended from the base to end in another ornate, demonic eye surrounded by angular, Dark runes.

"Who are you?" Cinder asked, aiming the fireballs at the old man.

In response, the old man laughed, his free hand arching painfully. He stared up at the broken moon in the sky and continued cackling. An aura of Darkness began to cover his shoulders, flowing down his body. Then he suddenly stopped, staring down at Cinder. "Take me to Salem."

"Salem?" Mercury asked. Cinder glanced over at her two confused underlings, then back at the old man.

"Weapons down," she told Mercury and Emerald even as she lowered her own attack.

"Wh-"

"Obey!" Cinder snapped, turning on Mercury again. He flinched back, but did as she commanded and stood at ease. She growled at the boy, then turned back to the old man. "Who are you?"

The old man smiled, a grin that could freeze a fire. "My name is Master Xehanort," he said, running his tongue over his teeth with every syllable of his name, like he loved the taste of it. "You would do well to remember it, Girl."


	3. Promises of the Heart

**AN: Heyyo! I'm excited this is turning out so well so far and that my ultimate plan is still undiscovered... Muhahahaha! Oh, did I reveal I have an ultimate plan? Oh, no...**

 **So I'm glad that my that fight scenes and set pieces so far have been so entertaining, I've been putting a lot of time and energy into them. There's something about the intense, frenetic energy of Kingdom Hearts and RWBY that just demands the fights be awesome. Qrow's my favorite character in RWBY, so I hope any fight he's in turns out to be jaw dropping, especially one with our favorite Keyblade wielder. We haven't seen much of Qrow's scythe wielding in the show, yet, so I hope my – ahem – spin on his scythe fighting made sense. We haven't seen much of professional Huntsmen in action, but I got the feeling that Qrow was second to only Oz. Who knows what he could do sober?**

 **To warrior of six blades: you are really onto something with Sora's use of Dust. And here I was hoping I could keep it a secret for longer... Yeah, the Dust'll be how Sora will enter Drive Forms in this story, though he won't quite figure it out for a while. Sora in the games probably wouldn't exactly be described as overwhelmingly book smart. He has good instincts, so he might have a hunch but not much more. As for Xehanort, he's never been one to throw away broken toys, especially ones as powerful as the χ -blade. Who knows what the remnant of the weapon could do on Remnant?**

 **I want to say thanks to everyone reading this. If you like it, please leave a review!**

 **Chapter 3: Promises of the Heart**

Sora walked alongside Ruby and the remains of team JNPR quietly, thumbs looped through the straps of his bag, a tough backpack that was filled with his tent, some food, pajamas, and some sleeping clothes. The pack itself was mostly simple, though the technology of the planet had let him design it himself, to an extent. The bag itself was white, mostly, with red stripes crossing over in an 'X' on the face. The thing that Sora liked the most, however, was the presence of the black crown that adorned the sides of the pack and was also placed over the intersection of the two stripes. It was the exact same crown dangling from his necklace, three pronged with two circular dips between the inner peak and the two outer peaks.

Sora glanced over at the four warriors to his right, each of them walking silently and staring at the ground. He frowned and shook his head. They were friends and they enjoyed each others company, but they were so... sad. Each and every one of them had the same lost look on their faces, like they didn't know what to do without the person they'd lost. Sora definitely understood that feeling, as he was pretty sure he'd acted the exact same way when he'd first lost Riku and Kairi and shown up in Traverse Town all those adventures ago. It had taken Donald and Goofy... falling out of the sky and giving him hope to see how he was acting. Sora smiled slightly – he knew what he had to do.

"So did you guys know there's a type of ship that runs on smiling?" he asked, suddenly breaking the silence and drawing the attention of each of the four. They all had the same incredulous look plastered to their faces – even the stoic Ren. "Really. I even got to pilot it in battle. Smiling isn't easy to do when a Hear – enemy is close to shooting you down, but you really learn how to have a sunny disposition even in the darkest moments. It's great, just coursing through.. the air."

"Are you making a joke about how down we've been?" Jaune asked, shooting a sarcastic glare at Sora. "Because a ship that's powered by smiling? That's... that's impossible, Sora."

Sora grinned and shook his head. "I thought the same thing, too," he said, shrugging as he did. Then he let his hands drop from his pack and he waved them around animatedly. "But they're so cool. I mean, yeah, I only thought of it because you're reminding me of how I felt before my first ride in one. I'd lost my friends and I was scared I'd never find them. That I would never beat the Darkness. It turns out, all you need to beat the Darkness is to be the Light. Like I said, my job was making hope, and you guys just looked like... well, like you needed some."

"The Grimm are attracted to negative emotions," Ren pointed out simply, tossing a glance at Sora before returning his attention to the treeline. Sora knew the ninja was looking for Grimm who might start attacking, and he didn't seem big on smiling anyways. Still, Sora knew he'd get the serious ninja to laugh if it was the last thing he did!

"That too," Sora agreed, taking note of it. That was something they hadn't told him – probably because it was common knowledge on Remnant. He jogged ahead of the others and turned around. As he walked backwards, he began to grin as widely as he had when he'd first met Donald and Goofy. "See, it isn't that hard. Don't worry, be happy!"

"Is that a song?" Jaune asked dryly.

Sora's smile slipped away as he walked backwards. "N-no. Maybe? Look, I'm just saying you should try it out," he explained, placing his hands behind his head and looking up at the sky. Then he suddenly looked back down, fingers stretching his mouth and his eyes both staring at the tip of his nose. "Nyaaaah!"

Nora was the first to start laughing, just a quiet giggle at first. Then she erupted in laughter and twirled happily on one foot like a crazy ballerina, crashing into Ren when she did. This caused Ruby and Jaune to fall to their knees in sudden laughter, watching the usually poised Ren struggle to pull himself out from under the shaking, laughing form of Nora Valkyrie. "Nora. You're crushing me," the dark haired ninja groaned, reaching around her to try and pull her weapon from her back. "Magnihild – Ugh! – is crushing me..."

Sora by this point was also clutching his gut and laughing on the ground, gasping for air and feeling tears come to his eyes. The entire forest was ringing with the laughter of the four friends – because, as usual, Ren was not quite joining in. Sora wasn't sure Ren could even breathe under the intense weight of Nora's weapon. "Help," he groaned, dramatically reaching out towards Jaune's doubled over form. He started flailing. "Actually, help."

Jaune sighed, coming down from his laughter in fits and bursts. He reached down to help drag his friend out from beneath Nora and guide him to his feet. "Better?" Jaune asked before glancing down at Nora and laughing again. Ren smiled slightly in agreement and closed his eyes; his chin hit his chest and he soaked in the still ringing laughter of Nora, Ruby, Jaune, and Sora.

Eventually, that too died down. "Okay, okay. We needed that," Ruby admitted as she stopped laughing. She looked up and saw Sora's outstretched hand, which she took to pull herself up. "Thanks, but how did you know that would work?"

"Have you met Nora?" Sora asked, crossing his arms and raising one eyebrow in question.

"Hm... good point," Ruby admitted with a shrug. She smiled, barely holding back her laughter. She grinned and placed her fists on her hips. "I haven't laughed that hard in while."

"It felt good," Jaune said, smiling slightly. He sighed glanced up at the sky. "We should make camp soon. It's getting dark." He glanced over at Sora.

"Let's just make our way a little further," Ruby said, pulling out a map. "Patch Harbor is only a little further away, and it would be better to camp out where the town's guards patrol." She began walking off, followed quickly by Sora and the others.

They walked in silence for a while before Sora was pulled back by Jaune. "What's up?" the Keyblade wielder asked the blonde, the two walking slower than the others so they could talk alone. Sora took a deep breath when Jaune didn't respond and stared up at the sky. "Cat got your tongue, Jaune?"

"Will you help train me to fight?" the blonde boy suddenly asked. Sora turned to his new friend, hands still laced behind his head. Sora noticed Jaune's face was more serious than he'd ever seen it, but not sullen or sad like it usually was when the swordsman wasn't smiling. Sora recognized the look – it was one he'd seen on his own face tons of times. Riku's even more. Sora blinked simply, causing Jaune to sigh. "Before Pyrrha, my – our friend – died, she was helping me get stronger. I'm not exactly the best fighter, but I'm getting better. You're... wow. I want to keep getting stronger, as strong as you are."

"Why?" Sora asked, stopping and staring at the swordsman. He let his hands drop to his side and his grin was gone.

"I – what?" Jaune asked, stunned.

"Why do you want to get stronger?" Sora asked. He crossed his arms and set his brow. "Tell me why and I'll tell you if I will."

Jaune opened and closed his mouth. "Because I want to get stronger. That way I can fight-"

"That's what you want," Sora said impatiently. He shook his head and sighed. "Tell me why you want that." He put his hands behind his head again and walked after Ruby and the others.

Jaune considered the question for a while. Why did he want to get stronger? Why did he want to be a Huntsman? Was it just because his entire family had been powerful warriors, or because he wanted adventure? Those both seemed like part of it, but they weren't why he wanted to become stronger. And he knew it wasn't just for the sake of becoming more powerful, either.

"Okay, let me put it another way. I'm going to ask you a few questions, and I only want your honest answers," Sora explained. He grinned and held up one finger. "I'll give you time to think about why you want to be stronger. Meet me after we make camp and I'll ask you the questions, okay Jaune? And don't forget your weapon."

R W B Y

Sora was gazing up at the sky a good distance away from the camp, going over the fight with Qrow in his head. He didn't want to admit it, but he'd underestimated the Huntsmen and Huntresses at first, and likely overestimated his own strength as well. His fight with Xehanort had been the toughest that he'd ever been through, but he still had to remind himself that he barely even won by default when aided by Riku, Kairi, King Mickey and the others. He had assumed that, after 'winning' that fight, almost nothing he met would be a challenge for him.

How boring would that have been?

Sora grinned and let his fists fall to his hips, his gaze falling simultaneously to keep watch for any Grimm who might have made their way past Patch Harbor's patrols. Snow was dusted across the ground and falling from the sky, reminding Sora of the time he'd spent at Beast's castle. "Memories," he said, clutching his necklace and smiling fondly. Sora wondered what Beast and Belle – or rather Prince Adam and Belle – were up to now.

He turned his mind back to the questions he was going to ask Jaune, and the three faces those questions had adopted when he'd been asked. Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie. It had been a long time since he'd seen those three, and h had next to no idea what had happened to them. He had always been closer to Riku and Kairi than with them, those three forming their own trio on the Islands much like Sora's. Still, they were good friends with good hearts. What are you so afraid of? What do you want out of life? What's most important to you? Sora hadn't thought on them since his own journey had begun, and had only remembered them when Jaune had asked for training. Sora was curious about what the blonde's answers would be.

So he began to ask the young Huntsman. "What are you so afraid of?"

"Um... excuse me?" Jaune asked in his usual confused tone.

Sora turned around and stuffed his hands in his pockets, shielding them at least a little from the freezing air. After living on a tropical island his whole life, snow would always take quite a bit of getting used to, no matter how long he was around it. For Sora, it almost felt... wrong to not be surrounded by sun and sand. "What are you so afraid of?" he asked again. "Question one. What are you so afraid of?"

Jaune glanced at the ground and began rubbing his left forearm nervously. Sora noticed that the young man's eyes were glazed over with what could quickly become tears, the signs of memories he was trying to both keep in his Heart and shove out of his mind forever. "I, uh... Miss Goodwitch?"

"Jaune," Sora said after a few minutes, not wanting to rush Jaune but also wanting the swordsman to confront his own Heart, "you have to answer the questions. That was the deal."

"I know, I know," Jaune said, raising his hands defensively before running them through his hair. He blinked away his tears and coughed before nodding as if to reset his determination. "Okay. What am I afraid of? That's the question right?"

"Yes. What are you so afraid of?" Sora repeated, still not moving. He didn't sound angry, just completely calm. He wondered if he looked like Riku at all when he tried acting like this. It felt weird.

"I guess... being different. Everyone else I know is so strong, so cool, and I'm... not," Jaune said, glancing at the ground.

"Disagree, but... okay," Sora said with a shrug. He scratched his chin then returned his hands to his pockets. "Now what's next..? Oh, right! Jaune, what do you want out of life?"

Jaune smiled sadly and nodded, unafraid to answer the questions now. "I want to be strong, like Pyrrha was," the boy knight explained. He let his hand rest on his sword as he continued. "I want to be a shield."

Sora smiled. "Really?" he asked. He grinned wider and nodded in agreement. "That sounds exactly like what I expected, Jaune. Okay, last question. Ready?"

Jaune nodded seriously. "Okay, then," Sora muttered. He stared Jaune in the eye and grew serious. "I think I already know the answer, but I want to hear you say it anyways. What is most important to you?"

Jaune opened his mouth to reply, then stopped and stared at the ground. "That's a question whose answer has always been the same thing," Jaune said quietly. His fists clenched at his side and Sora could see a familiar Darkness hanging from the man's shoulders. But also an equally familiar Light. "I didn't know it until recently, I guess. I'd always thought it was something else, that power and fame were the most important things. Like if I didn't have those, I couldn't say that I'd succeeded where even my parents thought I'd fail. But when Pyrrha died... that's when I understood. I would do anything for the people I care about. They're the real measure of my success, especially Ren, Nora, Ruby and – and Pyrrha."

Sora nodded solemnly, feeling like he understood the young Huntsman in Training better now, but also like his hunches regarding Jaune's Heart had turned out to be right. "So do you know the answer to the question I asked before? Do you know why you want to become stronger?" he asked the blonde Huntsman. Sora summoned the Keyblade to his hand and slammed it blade first into the ground so it stuck out perpendicular from the snow. The weapon quivered as Sora leaned over on top of it.

"I want to be strong so I can protect the people I care about," Jaune said, the reason why Sora had asked those specific questions dawning on him. He reached down to Crocea Mors and slid it off of his belt. He drew the sword from its sheathe and extended the scabbard into his shield. "I want to save the people I care about no matter what the cost could be."

Sora frowned. _No matter the cost..?_ He shook his head, clearing the sting of those familiar and troubling words. There was a powerful Light to them, if Jaune didn't go too far with it. Sora doubted he would, though. "Well, you answered the question," Sora said, placing his hands on the handle of the Keyblade and yanking it from the ground. He twirled it in one hand and placed it at his side. "I agreed to help you train if you answered it, so I'm ready to help. I'll have to warn you, though, it won't be an easy time. You might get bruised."

Jaune raised his shield. "I'm not afraid," he said with a grin. Then he rushed at Sora, swinging his blade at Sora's head. The Keyblade wielder sidestepped the attack before bringing his Keyblade around to collide with Jaune's shield. The force of the blow caused the blonde man to stumble backwards; Sora let him regain his footing before rushing at him.

"You need to set your feet wider, otherwise your shield's defense won't matter when someone hits you," Sora said, bringing the Keyblade down to collide with Jaune. The boy brought his shield up, blocking the blow. Sora spun around the boy's defense and brought his Keyblade around in a flash-quick attack. He forced the Keyblade to stop just a short distance from Jaune's head. "Better. But you have a sword and a shield. Don't only defend against my blows, okay? You can only stop me from attacking if you keep me on my toes." Sora jumped back and held the Keyblade in front of him. "Again."

Sora raised the Keyblade and caught Jaune's attack near the basket of the weapon, then used his superior leverage to shove the sword out of his way and attack with the Keyblade. Jaune brought his shield up in time to block the blow. The Keyblade and Crocea Mors collided with a clear pang that echoed through the empty forest. Jaune used the force of the attack to spin and bring his sword around in counter. In response, Sora brought his off hand around and placed it against Jaune's shield, shoving off and bringing the Keyblade up to block the attack. "Great!" Sora shouted excitedly. He flipped over the swordsmen's next attack and flew into the air above Jaune. Seeing how Jaune had succeeded in countering him so far, the Keyblade wielder decided to turn things up. He wanted to find out how he should fight when training with Jaune to help him to the maximum. "Ready?"

Sora slammed his Keyblade down, this time faster than before. Jaune brought his shield up, the edge glancing against Sora's weapon and causing the Kingdom Key to slide to the side. Sora spun midair to bring the Keyblade down again as he fell, this time the brunt of the blow crashing against the other side of the shield. The massive force behind the attack caused Jaune's arm to bend and his defensive wall to fall away. The end of the Keyblade slammed into Jaune's shoulder and the Huntsman was thrown back into a tree. Snow from the branches above fell down to cover him in a tall pile.

"Jaune!" Sora cried out, dismissing the Kingdom Key and rushing towards where Jaune had landed. "Jaune, I'm sorry! Are you okay? Jaune!" He began to tunnel away at the snow with his hands, trying fervently to help the Huntsman and make sure he was okay.

Sora's eyes lit up and he growled at himself. Summoning the Keyblade, he said, "Stupid! Agh! Cure!" He held the Keyblade straight up, summoning a circle of green energy and ringing bells that healed himself and the young man buried under the snow. "Come on... Jaune!" Sora continued digging, ignoring the numb pain that was shooting through his fingers as he tore at the pile of snow. Finally, the pile creaked and fell away as Jaune surged to his feet.

"Ow..." the swordsman groaned, rubbing the back of his head gingerly. His entire face was beet red and there was audible chattering as his entire body shivered violently. "S...so c-c-c-cold. Ow."

"Let me help," Sora said, placing the Keyblade beside Jaune and summoning a Fire spell to its tip. The magic flared up along the blade of the Kingdom Key and Sora waved the sword around Jaune like a magic wand. "Let's see... Fire Fire Fire! There!"

"Ow," Sora groaned sympathetically while looking at the newly charbroiled Jaune Arc, smoke rising from a small fire on his hair. The small flame traced its way up to his scalp and Sora laughed sheepishly. He leaned down and grabbed a handful of snow before dropping it on Jaune's head. "There. Um... how about we finish for the day?"

"One more time," Jaune said hollowly. Sora cocked his head to the side and grimaced. Jaune furrowed his brow and nodded. "One more fight."

Sora sighed and stepped back. "I'll tone it down –"

"No," Jaune said, his voice adamant. "Don't hold back any more than you already are."

"Jaune, you might get hurt," Sora replied calmly. He sighed when he saw the blonde's eyes – they were full of determination and unflinching resolve. He wanted nothing less than what Sora was already giving.

"I can't let you or Ruby or the others be the only ones who can fight people like Cinder," Jaune explained. He crouched down and fished Crocea Mors out from beneath the pile of snow. He tossed the pieces of freezing metal from hand to hand, letting them warm up before finally readying the sword and shield in front of him. "I couldn't help fight once and I can't help but wonder... if I had been able to... if maybe I'd been stronger -" Jaune caught himself and let his weapons fall to his side, a heavy frown on his face. His next words came out as little more than a fractured, sullen croak. "Maybe then Pyrrha would still be alive."

Sora sighed and brought the Kingdom Key up to rest over his right shoulder. "Okay. But only once more," he replied. He understood how the blonde felt, having seen Riku go through the exact same thing when Kairi had lost her heart so long ago. He'd been driven to do some terrible things, and Sora didn't want that to happen to Jaune. No, better Sora help him get stronger than run the risk of Xehanort worming his way into yet another person's Heart to get rid of his own weakened body, especially someone with such a strong Heart; Jaune reminded Sora of Riku too much, sometimes.

Sora brought the Keyblade down into his ready position. "Okay, Jaune. One more time," Sora agreed, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Then he rushed towards Jaune, swinging the Kingdom Key at the Huntsman's head.

Jaune brought his left arm up, taking the brunt of the attack with his shield, the force of Sora's blow causing an explosion of air. The resultant wind blew the remains of the snow pile at Jaune's feet away and cleared the ground around Sora and the Huntsman to reveal the frosted grass beneath. Jaune's blade shot up to attack Sora, but the Keyblade wielder summoned his weapon to his other hand and deflected the blow. The force of blade against blade sent Jaune spinning around the trunk of the tree behind him.

Sora tossed the Keyblade back to his dominant hand, turning to block the attack that came from the other side of the tree. He slid back across the slick ground as Jaune pressed his attack, trying to beat back the Keyblade wielder. Sora let Jaune deliver another blow, this one much sharper and sending Sora flying backwards. He jumped as he tumbled back and flipped, landing feet first against a tree. He jumped off towards Jaune, sweeping the Keyblade around until Arc raised his shield in defense. That was when Sora summoned the Keyblade to his other hand and slashed down at Jaune's head. The weapon clashed with Jaune's sword. Sora's attack broke through the Knight's defense, however, crashing into Jaune's shoulder. The Huntsman immediately found himself laying face down in the snow, legs sticking straight up above him.

Sora flipped once more through the air and landed lightly on his feet. He slashed the Keyblade in front of him twice before turning around and placing it on his shoulder. He looked down at Jaune's prone form and chuckled. "You did a lot better that time. I though you'd be able to block a quick change in attack direction like that; I'm glad to see I wasn't wrong."

"Thanks," came the muffled voice of Jaune in reply, the young man groaning in pain while he tried to push himself up. Sora grimaced sympathetically and pulled Jaune up by his hood. The warrior groaned. "Thanks..."

Sora grinned and dropped Jaune, whose skin shimmered white for a moment. "Ah, my Aura's gone," Jaune muttered, retracting his shield and sheathing his sword. The Huntsman turned and smiled at Sora, who stood there looking confused. Sora had heard Ruby and the others explain Aura and Dust a dozen times already and he still didn't quite understand it. The closest he could understand was that Aura was like a forcefield. "It's a good thing we're stopping, because I couldn't take another hit at all."

"That was a good first try," Sora said, dismissing the Kingdom Key and patting Jaune on the back. "It took me countless fights to get as good as you are now. And I have magic, so I have other things I can lean on. You're as good with your shield as Goofy ever was, that's for sure."

"Goofy?" Jaune asked.

"He's one of my best friends," Sora explained, glancing up at the sky. His eye caught on a gleaming star and he smiled. "He's a knight who only uses a shield – no swords. If you could see him fight, he'll jump around demolishing the enemy with nothing more than strikes from his shield. And he always was there to jump in and block if you needed help. It's what he was best at, being a shield." Sora looked down from the sky at Jaune. "You'd like him."

R W B Y

Sora walked through Patch Harbor with his friends, running from shop to shop and staring at the items he'd never seen before. Unfortunately, without Lien all he could do was window shop and dream about repaying his friends for their kindness. He wished he still had any Munny left, but he wasn't sure that the stores would take it. Of all the worlds Sora had ever visited, Remnant was the only one that used its own currency. He wished that the Grimm he killed would drop Lien like the Heartless had with Munny, because he'd be rich by now if that were the case. But they didn't, so he was still mooching off of Ruby and the others.

"So, if someone wanted to make some Lien quickly, how would I – one go about it?" Sora asked while he stared down at a multi-colored collection of dust through a window. Red, blue, yellow, white, and a bunch of other colors that all came in one big case. The individual colors were arranged in a wheel, their complement present directly across the circle. At the center was the white, gleaming and pure. He turned back and grinned at the Huntsmen he was traveling with. "Say, me, for instance."

"There's tons of ways to make extra lien," Ren said, examining his Scroll. The screen flashed for a moment before shutting off. "Hmph. The CCT is still down."

Ruby sighed dramatically. "Fine... so we're going to have to wait for Nora and Jaune to get back from the Harbor with prices for the trip to the Kingdom's mainland," she groaned, she looked around. "Oooh! Ice cream!" She took off in a blur of red and roses. Ren looked over to exchange looks with Sora, but he was already gone as well.

"ICE CREAM!" Ren heard the boy scream as he careened down the street after raised his hand up to the side of his head and smoothed his hair down, as Sora and Ruby's rush past him had blown it up to stick straight out towards his right shoulder. "I SCREAM YOU SCREAM!"

"They all scream for ice cream," Ren grumbled, shaking his head and glancing at the ground. "At least Nora -"

"IIIIIICEEEEE CREEAAAM!" The roar of hungry desire echoed through the Harbor town menacingly.

"Never mind," Ren said with a sigh. He clasped his hands behind his back and walked off towards the source of the ever increasing noise. "Yay."

"Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream!" Nora was chanting, hopping from side to side excitedly in the line for the store. "Ren, oh my gosh, we're going to have ice cream! It's just like every Tuesday at the orphanage how they would take us all to get ice cream together in the town and we'd -"

"I'm excited, too," Ren said, not showing any of that excitement. Sora thought the ninja looked like he was depressed more than he was excited.

"Yyyyeah..." Sora muttered in 'agreement.' "So what flavor does everyone want?"

"Strawberry!" Ruby shouted, jumping up excitedly.

"I prefer organic avocado based ice cream," Ren said, drawing a disgusted glare from the others. "It is full of nutrients that ordinary ice cream does not contain at all."

"Ren's just boring," Nora half-joked, taunting her partner and slapping him on the back. He fell face first onto the ground. The incredibly strong woman grinned sheepishly. "Oops... Pancake for me! Did you guys know that pancakes are the only thing that Ren can cook without poisoning it?"

"Nora!" Ren said indignantly. He sighed. "She's right..."

"Vanilla," Jaune said, entirely too predictably. He glanced around at the disappointed looks of the others. "No? Cookie Dough, then."

"That's better, I guess," Sora said with a shrug. He glanced up at the ice cream shop – Snow's Frozen Treats, a Schnee Corp. Subsidiary! – and ran through the list of flavors. "Vanilla? No. Chocolate? Nah. Dragon!? Oh, Mushu... Ha! They have it!" Sora jumped in the air with one hand raised above his head. "Yes!"

"What do they have?" Ruby asked, advancing down the list to try and guess.

"Sea Salt Ice Cream," Sora said, a wide grin stretching across his face. He sighed and stared up at the sky, memories both his own and not his own running through his head. Roxas had enjoyed the flavor of the frozen treat while hanging out with Lea's nobody and Xion in Twilight Town. Since then, Sora had inherited that same appreciation for the ice cream and made dozens of his own memories containing the sweet as their focal point. "I can't believe they have it, it's great! The best – my favorite."

"Maybe I'll have to try that instead," Jaune muttered to himself.

"If I had any of my own lien, I'd buy some for all of you," Sora said, mouth watering in excitement. "Everyone should try it at least once. Or twice. Or a thousand times! I get it whenever I can!"

"Come on, Ren, if you aren't going to get triple banana bubblemint instead of your nasty 'healthy' ice cream, go for that!" Nora reprimanded the black and magenta haired ninja. "Come on, just try it!"

"Only if you do, too," Ren said, crossing his arms and knowing he'd won. She'd never change her mind from her usual pancake flavored confection.

"Fine," Nora said, calling his bluff. Ren flinched and groaned, suddenly acutely aware that he had been defeated. Still, what was the harm in trying?

"Ruby?" Sora asked.

"But... Strawberry," she muttered, tears streaming from her eyes. "No..."

"Five sea salt," Ren told the guy at the register.

"Twenty lien."

"Why?" Ruby groaned again sadly.

"Just try it," Sora said, walking up to the counter and grabbing the five ice creams. He tossed one to Nora and one to Ren before handing Jaune his – more coordinated the Huntsman may have become, but clumsy he remained. "Give it a chance." He grabbed Ruby's hand and stuffed the handle of the treat between her fingers.

"Strawberries," she cried even while bringing the Sea Salt ice cream to her mouth. Her face immediately cleared of any tears and he began to furiously devour the ice cream.

"Whoa, slow down," Sora said, taking his mouth from his own ice cream. "You'll get -"

"Brainfreeze!" Nora cried out from behind him.

"Yeah. That," Sora told Ruby, who smiled sheepishly at him. She began to eat the ice cream slower. Sora grinned and took another bite, grinning as he did. He turned to Jaune and sighed. "How much is the trip to Vale?"

"Two hundred lien each," Jaune said after glancing up and thinking back. "So... Ren?"

"We need nine hundred lien more than we have now," he muttered in explanation.

"Ouch," Sora grimaced, knowing the pain of being broke all too well by that point. "... So what did you guys pay for my clothes and tent?"

"Nine hundred lien," Ruby muttered dryly, drawing an embarrassed chuckle from the Keyblade wielder. Ruby finished her ice cream and whimpered sadly. "Oh... I guess we better go do jobs."

"Well, then what do we do?" Sora asked, finishing up his own ice cream and effortlessly tossing it over his shoulder and into a trash can.

"How did he manage to do that?" Jaune asked, glancing at Sora then at the trash can. "He's thirty feet from it!"

"I miss Weiss' credit card," Ruby muttered sadly. She sighed and looked up. "Okay. There has to be something we can do here for lien. Um... split up and meet here at the end of the day to compare what we've got?"

"We'll go look together," Ren said, grabbing Jaune – who was still staring at the trash can Sora had tossed his popsicle stick into without looking – and Nora – who was still crying about her brainfreeze – by their shirts.

Jaune looked up. "Team JNPR is on the case!" he said, then frowned sadly. "Or, team JNR, I guess."

"I'll take Sora to the other end of town to look," Ruby said, waving goodbye to her friends. She then grabbed Sora excitedly by the arm and began to drag him away. "Let's go, Sora!"

"Okay!" Sora agreed, struggling to gain his footing as the surprisingly strong Ruby Rose dragged him along. "Um, Ruby, I can walk you know?"

"Oops!" Ruby said. She nervously let go of Sora and he stumbled into step next to her. She pulled her hood over her head in embarrassment. "Just in a hurry."

"No problem!" Sora said, grinning and lacing his fingers behind his head as he walked. "So what kind of stuff are we looking for?"

"High paying, short time span," Ruby said. She smiled evilly. "Incredibly dangerous!"

There was a short pause. "You just want to get hired to go and kill Grimm," Sora pointed out, crossing his arms and gazing sidelong at Ruby. She grinned sheepishly and laughed, scratching the back of her head through her hood. Sora kept staring for a moment, causing Ruby to glance away and blush again. Finally, Sora shrugged in acquiescence and looked away from Ruby. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, that's usually how I made my Munny. I'm in. So how do we find one of those jobs?"

"Uhm..."

"You don't actually know, do you?" Sora asked, letting his hands fall to his side and his chin to his chest. He sighed. "Sounds like me, again."

"I thought it would just figure itself out!" Ruby argued, throwing her hands into the air and waving them about. Sora glanced over at her, causing her shoulders to slump beneath her cloak. Her voice was calmer now. "Times are tough, people need Huntsmen and Huntresses more than ever. I bet someone, somewhere in the harbor needs our help with something. It's what we do."

There was a scream in the distance. "Speaking of," Sora said, glancing at Ruby. They nodded at each other and drew their weapons, rushing off towards the source of the noise.

Patch Harbor was a moderately sized port, a necessity given the presence of Signal Academy towards the center of the island. Sora grinned despite himself as he glanced over at the ocean to his left. It felt right that he was on an island, like it was almost destiny that he'd landed there. Destiny and islands. "I grew up on an island, too," Sora said as he ran alongside Ruby, the Keyblade flashing to his hand.

"Really? What was it called?" Ruby said. She pulled Crescent Rose out and twirled it into its weapon form. "Warmer than Patch?"

"Destiny Islands. And let me just say I'm not used to snow and leave it at that," Sora explained with a grin. He rounded the next corner and raised his Keyblade beside his head like Riku would hold it. His eyes widened angrily and he shoved the blade forward when he saw a young woman surrounded by three angry looking men. A beam of light shot form the tip of the Kingdom Key, crashing into the woman and summoning a Reflega around her just as a dust bullet was launched at her. The energy bounced off of the wall, crashing into the weapon it was fired from and causing it to explode in its wielder's hand. "Less dangerous, too."

Ruby didn't reply. Sora only heard an explosion as she fired her sniper behind her and shot past him, the wind ruffling his hair as she passed by, scythe spinning through the air. Sora tracked her as she whipped the weapon around, causing a gust of wind that knocked down the man who was turning to aim at her even as the blade collided with the third mugger. There was a loud crash as he was sent flying into the wall, cracking the bricks that made the alley wall up. Sora saw the third man start to aim his weapon at Ruby's back and tossed his Keyblade, the strike raid shattering the man's weapon and breaking his hand. "I wouldn't try that again," Sora growled, raising his hand behind him and summoning the Keyblade back to his clenched fist. "It might turn out even worse for you."

"Uh, Sora, can you drop this wall?" Ruby asked, drawing Sora's attention back to her. Ruby was rapping her knuckles lightly against his Reflega and smiling caustically at him. He smiled and swept his Keyblade to his side, causing his wall of magic to disappear. Ruby smiled and turned back to the girl. "You okay?"

R W B Y

"You do realize the odds of you just running off and immediately finding the daughter of the Harbor Master being mugged are lower than your odds of being hired for a job that would have paid for our entire trip?" Ren asked as the group made their way onto the Dragonfly airship.

"Good ol' Keyblade Master luck," Sora said with a grin. "Follow your heart and you'll find what you need to find."

"I don't understand!" Nora exclaimed jovially as she walked past Ren.

"Our club has jackets," Jaune muttered in confused agreement, following Ren and Nora up the ramp and into the inside of the airship.

"It sure was nice of him to pay for our ride," Sora said, deciding to instead make his way to the outside viewing ledge of the airship. Ruby followed him after a half-moment's hesitation. Sora scratched his head. "I almost wish he hadn't given us this much."

Ruby smiled. _Sora's so kind. It's cute_ – Ruby coughed at her own inner thoughts and tripped on her own feet. "You okay?" Sora asked as he leaned against the guardrail for the Dragonfly.

Ruby steadied herself and blushed. "Y-yeah. I'm fine," she said, turning and gazing down at the ocean. There was a steady whir as the Dust generators of the ship began to start up, the energy from the mystical power source causing the ship's wings to beat in tandem and the wind-Dust generator to force the ship into the air. Ruby shook with the movement and tumbled to the side, falling into Sora, who caught her with one arm. She looked up and noticed their faces were uncomfortably close, but his face was calm like he didn't realize it at all. In fact, he just had the same innocent, silly smile on his face. She pushed off from his chest and her blush only deepened. "Thanks." It only managed to come out as a squeak, turning her the same color as her namesake crystal.

Sora smiled. "No problem!" he exclaimed, shutting his eyes and letting his grin widen. Sora let his left hand fall to the railing again and reached into his pocket to pull out a star shaped charm. It glistened in the light of the sunset, bringing a softer, simpler smile to the Keyblade wielder's face. Ruby examined his face as he stared almost lovingly at the charm.

She continued to stare at Sora for a while, waiting for some response from him. The minutes dragged on and on until, finally, the sun dipped beneath the edge of the world and was replaced slowly by the shattered moon above. "So what is that?" Ruby finally asked, snapping Sora out of his reverie. She walked over and gripped the railing next to him. His back was to the railing while her face gazed out above the sea. "That little charm you're holding. What is it?"

Sora smiled and brought up the star. "It's called a Wayfinder," he said, showing the star to Ruby. It was made from five shells laced together with string around a small crown. There was a simple, white chain running from the 'top' of the star, where there was also a simply drawn face with brown, spiky hair.

"I see the resemblance," she said, causing Sora to laugh. She smiled at the noise. "What is a Wayfinder, then?"

"A promise," Sora explained, rubbing his thumb across the center. "On my home island, there's this fruit shaped like a star. A paopu fruit. Legend says that if two people share one, their Hearts become linked forever."

"Oh," Ruby said, the meaning of the words dawning on her. She sighed and stared down at the sea below, her eyes half-lidded. "Who's the lucky lady?"

"'Lucky..?'" Sora palled and shook his head, fervently trying to deny what she'd implied. He wasn't sure if he meant it, though. "N-no, it's not like – uhm, she's one of my best friends. She's a Keyblade wielder, like me and she made this. It's a promise that Riku, Kairi, and I will always find our way back to each other no matter what."

"Lucky them," Ruby said. She sighed and looked back up at him. "I like it. It's really cool."

"Yeah. Apparently they have other uses, too, for Keyblade wielders," Sora said with a shrug. "This blue haired lady I know says if two people both have one of them, then they can fight like each other. Like if you had one, my Keyblade could become a scythe like yours and I could shoot around in a blur of roses. That is, if it's true. She was kind of delirious from decades of hunger when she said that."

"So I could use a Keyblade?" she asked, frothing at the mouth at the very idea of such a thing.

"Well, maybe," Sora said, placing the Wayfinder back into his pocket gingerly. It was one of his very few items that survived his journey among the Lanes Between and even fewer that lasted through his fall to Remnant. "Though, more likely you'd just be able to use the same skills that I do."

"Oh. Well, I guess I could deal with that," Ruby said. She raised her hand and made a gun out of her fingers. "Thunder!"

Sora snorted and nodded. "That's probably closer," he said, laughing along with the girl. "Though I don't think my voice is that high when I do it."

"Your voice cracks every time!" Ruby retorted, falling back into laughter. Sora stared at her, unamused for a moment. Then the Keyblade wielder clutched his gut as they continued to guffaw together. He laughed until he lost his balance, tumbling to the metal floor of the viewing ledge. He was followed quickly by Ruby, who hit the wall and slid down, then lost her balance again and tumbled to the ground beside him.

"Okay. Maybe it does," Sora admitted as soon as he calmed down. He sighed contentedly and propped himself up on his elbow, looking over at Ruby who was doing the same. "As for if you can use a Keyblade? King Mickey and Master Yen Sid used to always say that anyone who has a strong enough Heart can summon their own Keyblade."

"So why don't more people have them?" Ruby asked, tracing her finger across the ground.

"There was a War," Sora said, rolling until he was on his back again. He stared up at the sky, the story burned into his mind.

"Why haven't I heard about it?" Ruby asked. "I didn't always listen in Professor Port's class, but I remember the wars we talked about..."

Sora flinched. He'd been revealing too much. "Not a... War, I guess," he murmured, trying to explain it away. "All I know is that the Keyblade wielders fought for something powerful, and they almost all ended up killing each other. Good. Evil. Light. Dark. They all died for the χ -blade."

"Keyblade?"

Sora shook his head. " χ -blade. It's this... old thing. The Keyblades are just copies of the χ -blade. Xehanort tried to rebuild it and bring the W- the battle back," Sora explained. He summoned the Kingdom Key and held it above his head, staring at the blade. "He used me and my friends to build it." He smiled in victory. "So we broke it."

"You... broke an ancient weapon?" Ruby asked. Sora nodded, grinning. He flinched when her fist collided with his shoulder. "How dare you destroy something like that, Sora? A nice little weapon?!"

"That could've destroyed the world!" Sora countered, raising his left hand to his face to block her hand. "At least no one can fight over it now."

"Ha. Sure," Ruby said, shaking her head and lowering her fist to her side. "You know, Sora, your friends are pretty lucky to have you."

"Yeah, you are," Sora said with an overly confident grin.

Ruby chuckled and leaned back, clasping her hands behind her head to gaze up at the sky with Sora, who dismissed the Kingdom Key and did the same. "You know what I mean," Ruby said, done with the jokes.

The lights far above twinkled dimly and Sora wondered which one was where his friends could be. It had only been a few days – almost a week – since Sora's arrival on Remnant, and he wasn't ready to give up hope just yet. They'd look forever, if they needed to. "No," he murmured as another star glittered far above. "I have them, Donald, Goofy. They'll never stop looking for me. There's all the people I've met along the way. And now I have you guys, too. I think that, if anyone's the lucky one, it's me."

Ruby blushed and smiled. "Oh, shut your face," she mumbled, biting her cheek and glancing away from Sora. "What are... friends for?"

Sora didn't respond. "Sora?" Ruby asked, looking over at the Keyblade wielder. She leaned in close. "Hello? Eeek!" She flinched back as a loud, thunderous snore erupted from the Keyblade wielder's throat and flew across the skies behind them.

Ruby sighed and shook her head. "Good night, Sora," she said. She yawned and stretched, her eyes drifting shut. "See ya tomorrow..." Then there was another snore as Ruby herself drifted off to sleep.

R W B Y

Raven was not one to be easily frightened. She'd been operating in the Grimmlands for almost twenty years by herself, fighting against some of the most dangerous enemies all of Remnant had to offer all by herself. In that time, she'd fought creatures thought long dead by even Ozpin and her brother. Monsters that would give even the angriest, oldest Grimm pause in its desire to kill and maim. She had faced them all, destroyed them all with the strength of her sword and her soul. She was sure she could beat Ozpin in a fight at this point, even if he wasn't chained up and half-dead at Salem's feet.

In fact, since abandoning Tai and Yang, she'd only been scared by one thing. It was consistent terror, one she'd had to fight off every day. This Salem woman who presided over the Darkness of the Grimmlands was a whole other breed. Raven didn't exactly believe in 'evil,' but she was willing to make an exception when she saw this woman. She made Summer look tan, with hair almost as white as her skin. Deep black eyes with red irises and black, vein-like strings reaching across her entire body.

When Salem had sent her little pet, Cinder Fall, out into the world to look for someone, Raven had to admit that she had been intrigued. So, she'd decided to follow the young Fall Maiden back to the Land of Light and find out what she was looking for. It had to be more interesting than a half-dead Ozpin, after all.

Now Raven Branwen could say she was scared of two things.

The old man was so very much like Salem while being so incredibly different. His very presence coated the air around him with Darkness, tugged at the Light and devoured it. Sometimes, Darkness physically radiated from his shoulders, casting out for something to kill, something to hurt. It chilled Raven to the very core, which said nothing of his weapons. One was a shattered sword, but she still felt like it made her own blade look like nothing in comparison. The other was nothing more than a black key the size of a sword. It looked like Darkness given form, something that wanted to cast out Light and end it. It made Raven both wonder and shudder at what Salem must wield if the man wielded that.

Raven watched the four walking down the pathway towards Haven. She shuddered. She'd had enough. Raven waited until they were out of sight, then unsheathed her sword. In a single slash, she cut open reality to reveal a portal of Darkness. "Well, well," a magnetically disturbing voice behind her said. "What's a broken light like you doing making shadows?"

Raven turned, simultaneously bringing her sword to bear at the person who had managed to get the drop on her. Her red and black weapon came around faster than most could even perceive, only to collide with the black, twisted weapon of the old man. "You shouldn't play with forces you don't understand, little girl."

Raven didn't respond, instead bringing her sword around to attack again. She unleashed a flurry of lightning quick strikes, but each movement of her blade collided with empty air as the man easily sidestepped every attack. "Is this the best the Remnant has to offer?" Xehanort asked, his blazing yellow eyes fixated on the woman's Grimm mask that hid her identity. "That's... disappointing. What has Salem been up to that she hasn't exterminated all of you yet?"

The man took a step back. "This bores me," he said, his weapon disappearing. "I will not waste my time and energy on one who does not understand power, not when the Seeker of Light has already walked upon this same ground."

"I am no pushover," Raven finally said, her voice a low, long forgotten growl.

"Perhaps to one who has not mastered the Keyblade," Xehanort admitted. He turned away from the woman. "As for me, my companions are probably starting to understand that my shadow is the one traveling with them. I should return before they start looking for me. As for you? Live and know that I exist. Let that terrify you, let it fester. Perhaps when you understand the Darkness you will be a more interesting pawn."

As soon as he left, Raven fell to her knees. "Who the hell are you?" she asked, her arms and legs frozen with fear. "Xehanort? Salem? What are you two?"


	4. Dust to Dust

**AN: Sorry it's been so long. I had finals, then Spring Break, so I've been busy with tests and hanging out with my family. Anyways, enjoy, and please review.**

 _ **Chapter 4: Dust to Dust**_

Sora let one of his eyes drift open as his dreams suddenly went black. The air outside of the main cabin of the airship was chilly, though it would be freezing if it weren't for the heaters running off of red dust. The black air of the night was pitch, with only the lights of the approaching Vale and the twinkling stars providing any light. Sora glanced around with his left eye then shut it, slowly opening the other. Nothing strange was going on with the airship – Sora held in a snort of surprise and struggled to remain still as he saw the sleeping form of Ruby across the way, close enough that their fingers could touch but far enough that they were not.

Instead, he slowly pushed himself to his feet and tried to calm the flush in his cheeks. _Why am I blushing like this?_ The Keyblade wielder asked himself, turning from where Ruby was cuddling Crescent Rose. Sora turned his gaze on Vale, the lights of the city casting an impressive silhouette even in the dark of night. Sora frowned and shook his head. No, that wasn't right; the sky behind the towers was turning a shade of purple as a golden orb began to rise behind it. Daybreak on this side of Remnant.

As the sun slowly made its way over the edge of the world, Sora caught sight of smoking spires. Swarms of creatures flew around the shimmering, emerald towers like insects building their hive. Sora wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a Dragon's wings flaring up at the top of the tallest building, where most of the flying Grimm were congregating. "That's the giant Grimm?" Sora asked himself, mind flashing back to the tale his friends had told him as well as to the rumors he had heard around Patch. Cinder had freed it through the careful application of her plan – of Xehanort's plan, Sora reminded himself. The young Keyblade wielder shook his head in disappointment – it was one of Xehanort's more clichéd plans, unleashing a huge creature of Darkness on an unsuspecting world. Did the guy have _any_ other ideas?

"Attention passengers," a feminine and robotic voice announced over the speakers. Sora didn't turn to listen, instead crouching to softly shake Ruby awake. "Attention passengers, this is a routine alert. Do not panic."

"Fimorminms, Yang," Ruby grumbled, slapping at Sora's hands. She rolled to her other side, Crescent Rose still clutched to her chest like a doll. Sora shook her again, lifting her by her shoulders and causing her head to bob wildly in every direction.

"Ruby, wake up," Sora shouted, now shaking her from side to side. "Ruby!"

"Whoa, whoa whoa whoa!" Ruby said, each statement of surprise coinciding with a sudden change in direction. Ruby's voice began to shake in time with her shoulders. "I – am – a – wake!"

Sora grinned sheepishly and let her go. He scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously. "Sorry," he said, his cheeks tinged red. He stood up and held out his hand.

"Well, I hope you had a reason," Ruby groaned, reaching out to grasp Sora's hand and pull herself to her feet. She fluidly clipped her weapon to her belt as she rolled from her heels to the balls of her feet. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow while glaring at Sora. "I did say five more minutes."

Sora just pointed up as the message restarted. "Attention passengers. Attention passengers, this is a routine alert. Do not panic. We are currently nearing former Beacon Academy airspace. Due to recent events, the Vale High Council has suggested that all incoming flights take extra precautions. All passengers, please enter the main cabin of the ship and remain calm. This has been a Dragonfly Air, Schnee Corp subsidiary, security message."

"Does Weiss' family own _everything_?" Ruby muttered in awe, counting the different companies she'd seen under her the banner of her partner's family-run company on her fingers. She let her hand fall and scoffed, somewhat impressed. "Almost, I guess." She looked up at Sora and gestured towards the door inside down the balcony. "We better get going."

Sora frowned and looked past Ruby, glaring at the clouds of Grimm that they were so worried would attack. He had been told that the Heartless hunt down Keyblade wielders by honing in on the Keyblade. Creatures of Darkness were instinctively drawn to the Weapons of Light and their masters in attempts to snuff them out. Sora clutched at his forehead, slamming his palm into his eye over and over. _Think_ , he urged inwardly. Why hadn't the Heartless followed him there? Sure, he'd shut the Door to Darkness with King Mickey's help and that had made sure the numbers of the Heartless wouldn't increase as they tried to escape into the Realm of Light, and the Keyblade wielder and his friends _had_ gone about exterminating them while trying to defeat Xehanort, making considerable headway. Could they have been made quiet with the defeat of Xehanort and the temporary return of Kingdom Hearts? Were they hunting his friends down on other worlds, keeping the other masters of the Keyblade from finding him?

"You okay?" Ruby asked, a slightly perturbed glare on her face.

Sora laughed, realizing he must have looked insane just slamming his hand into his head and glaring off into the night. "Just worried about something," Sora explained; he nodded towards the door and smiled assuringly. "You're right, we should probably head inside like they asked. Hopefully I'm wrong and there's nothing to worry about." He turned and walked towards the door with Ruby.

"What are you worried about?" Ruby asked from his left as they entered the main cabin. He held the door open for her to enter before him. "Thanks. Look, I'm sure nothing will happen, okay?"

"Sora's worried?" Jaune asked nervously. "Well, that's reason enough to start worrying ourselves."

"I'm not 'worried,'" Sora said, making air quotes. His shoulders bobbed up and down in a noncommital shrug. "More like... cautious."

"Usually I would be happier that I am not the only one who wants to act carefully," Ren said as Nora danced around him humming something about pancakes, "but when one as strong as you is worried, I would find it reason enough to be disturbed."

"I'm not worried!" Sora assured them. He shook his head and sighed.

"Then what are you really?" Jaune asked. Nora jumped behind him, still singing about pancakes.

"I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop," Sora explained, raising his left hand and letting it fall to his side. "Honestly, everything has been pretty calm since I've met you guys."

"Calm?" Jaune asked dryly. He glanced at Ren. "Sure."

"Yeah, you've only become a shooting star, gotten in a huge fight with Ruby's scary – yet disturbingly cool – uncle, destroyed about a _bajillion_ Grimm, and gotten us passage from Patch to Vale by stopping a mugging. That's a calm week?" Nora pointed out in a sing-song. She stopped and laughed, leaning on Ren's shoulder happily. "I can't wait to see what a _crazy_ week looks like!"

"Nora..." Ren groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He glanced out from beneath his fingers, the closest thing to a smile that Sora had seen on his face so far. "Though I must admit that I am intrigued as well."

"Sure," Jaune half-heartedly agreed. He rubbed his shoulder where Sora's Keyblade had hit him during their first training session, knowing that any week Sora considered normal or crazy would be a little much for even the most skilled of the Huntsmen. "Mayb -"

"Attention passengers. Attention passengers, please remain calm," the ship's robotic announcer interjected, causing everyone in the group to glance instinctively upward. "The Creatures of Grimm are currently on trajectory to intercept this vessel. The High Council of Vale has been contacted and they urge all aboard to remain calm. We will be landing at the edge of the Kingdom to await the intervention of Huntsmen from the city. This has been a Dragonfly Air, a Schnee Corp. Subsidiary, security message."

The ship lurched as its descent began to accelerate, throwing most in the cabin off balance and causing some scared shrieks. Sora and the others glanced between each other exasperatedly. "You were talking about a calm week?" Ruby asked, already pulling her weapon from her back.

"If only," Sora sighed, turning around and unlocking the exit with the Keyblade. He hefted the weapon onto his shoulder and shoved the door open before turning back to Ruby. "Ladies first?"

"Gee, thanks," she muttered dryly as she passed Sora.

A moment later: "Attention passengers. Attention passengers, please remain calm. There are currently five children outside attacking the Grimm. Again, please remain calm."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora watched as Ruby jumped off of the airship's balcony, more than a little disturbed. "I thought that we were – waiting for..." he froze and grunted in surprise as the rest of the Huntsmen followed suit and jumped from the ship with whoops of joy. "Well, that's... something." He shrugged and decided to follow suit, flipping over the railing and letting the Keyblade trail behind him.

Sora grinned as the wind began to whip through his hair, enjoying the feeling of the wild, adrenaline fueling ride he was now going through. Sure he was here to stop the Grimm from attacking, but why not have fun doing it? Nora whooped as she stood atop her hammer and fired, speeding her descent. She exemplified that idea. Sora even thought that he heard a mildly enthusiastic "Yay," come from Ren to further support his thoughts.

Oddly enough, the one who was most serious at this point was Ruby, her usual excitement either gone completely or expertly hidden. She held her scythe out behind her in one hand, the crimson weapon slicing through the air as she fell. Crimson Rose was overextended, causing the blade to form a 'J' with the handle so that the entire weapon looked like a hook. The similarity only became more evident when Ruby caught herself on the neck of a Griffon and spun onto its back. With a tug of her weapon to the side, she forced the creature to begin its descent. Sora angled his body and soon landed on the Grimm's back behind Ruby. The creature jostled off balance when he collided, but Sora was able to guide it back onto course. "You aren't going to just go the shooting star route again?" Ruby asked.

Sora laughed. "If you really want me to," Sora joked, "but you'll be buying me clothes and a tent again."

"Eh, maybe not then," Ruby said, yanking the disobedient monster back onto course. A young Nevermore made its way towards them and Ruby pointed towards it. "Keep us from getting killed."

"Aye aye!" Sora responded, shooting a salute at the Huntress. He then aimed his Keyblade at the incoming enemy. "Fire!" The concussive blast of fire exploded from the tip of the Kingdom Key, rushing at the incoming Grimm. The monster shrieked in rage and tried to spin around the attack, but Sora applied slight pressure to the attack and it curved midair to collide with the Grimm. The resulting heat of the explosion seared away the creature's feathers and fur, and the force caused the rest of it to disintegrate into black Dust. He quickly turned his attention to the next attacking Grimm, a Griffon much younger than the one that Sora and Ruby were riding on. An explosion of ice flew from his Keyblade, freezing it solid and sending it plummeting to the ground.

"Hey, this is just like during our first test!" Nora shouted. Sora turned around and almost felt bad for the Grimm she had landed on, the Nevermore being directed by Jaune and Ren's blades while she fired her Dust grenades out around the battlefield. "Remember? Remember, Ren? Ruby and Weiss jumped in from that Nevermore?"

"I remember," Jaune volunteered, grimacing. "Weiss landed on me, after all."

"Only because you jumped out of a tree," Ren pointed out, earning a stunted growl from his team's leader.

"You jumped off of a Grimm?" Sora asked Ruby. "Without a plan for landing?"

"You turned into a shooting star!" Ruby retorted. She pulled up on her scythe to slow their descent as they approached the ground, though this attempt to prevent their premature deaths resulted instead in slicing the head of the Griffon clean off. "That's... not good."

"What's not – oh," Sora said, turning back to her and noticing the wound trailing Dust in front of them. The Keyblade wielder sighed and grabbed Ruby's wrist. "Do you trust me?"

"Do I?—AAAAH!" Ruby screamed as Sora jumped off of the decaying Grimm with outstretched arms. "Let me go!"

"You want to fall?" Sora asked, stretching his arms out and gritting his teeth.

"At least then I could control my fall!" Ruby shouted, squirming. "Maybe survive the landing!"

"If you'd stop moving, you'd notice we're _gliding_ ," Sora responded, lazily drifting towards the top of the treeline. Ruby stopped fidgeting from her place gliding at Sora's side. He was right – somehow he'd managed to slow their descent and started angling their path into a circle around the trees near the coast.

"This is..."

"Fun, right!?" Sora said, grinning over at her. The Keyblade wielder laughed at her stunned face and glanced down at a pack of Beowolves. "Ready to drop?"

Ruby looked down and nodded, letting go of Sora's hand and dropping down on the Grimm. Sora grinned widely and stopped gliding, following her down and readying the Keyblade behind him. He plummeted towards the ground and crashed in the middle of the pack, slamming his sword into the ground. Dirt and stone exploded in every direction, sending Grimm flying through the air and crashing into the trees. "Best. Jump. Ever!" he shouted gleefully, raising his Keyblade and screaming a spell. "Thunder!" He laughed joyfully as the lightning crashed into the ground around him, taking out some of the Grimm. Sora jumped to the side and cut the claw off of a Beowolf that got too close as he spun to stand back to back with Ruby.

"Can we talk about how you decided to not use that," Ruby began, twirling Crescent Rose over her head and slicing cleanly through the jaw of a rampaging Ursa, "you didn't use that when you crashed here?"

"Er -" Sora mumbled, guarding Ruby from a Boarbatusk's blow as she finished her kill of the Ursa. He brought the Keyblade around in a counter and the Grimm faded into Dust. "I... forgot I could glide?"

Ruby shrieked angrily and slammed the blade of her scythe into the ground. "What!?" she snapped at the Keyblade wielder, who jumped over her as her sniper pushed her back towards him. He cast a Sparkga on the projectile, causing crystals of Light to form a cone around the bullet. As they collided with the Grimm, the Light exploded violently, tearing away chunks of the monsters' flesh. The Keyblade wielder landed next to the rifle and charged up a Firaga beside the muzzle, the spell torn from the Keyblade as the Dust bullet was fired off and exploding to destroy another group of Grimm.

"Use your lightning on Nora!" Ruby shouted, rolling her weapon around her neck, cutting a Grimm in two as she did so, and then firing off another shot as the weapon rested on her shoulders. Sora turned to ask what she meant, but the force of the gun firing had already forced her away and into another round of dizzying attacks against the Grimm.

"Okay," Sora mumbled, looking up and quickly aiming the Kingdom Key at the red head falling from the sky. It sounded crazy to Sora, but he trusted Ruby. "Thunder!" The yellow lightning flew from the end of his weapon, arcing through the air. He was stunned when the Huntress grinned maniacally at the energy and reached out for it with her hammer. The air crackled and roared when the energy collided with Nora's Magnihild, causing a huge explosion of light around her and obscuring her.

Only for her to be revealed moments later as she dropped from the smoky remains of the explosion, screaming, "Waaahoooo!" She crashed into the ground, slamming her weapon into its grenade launcher form and fired the huge weapon over Sora's shoulder. The Keyblade wielder froze, stunned by the power that had flown directly over his shoulder, and slowly turned to see what the explosion had destroyed. To his surprise, behind him was the decaying form of a half blown apart Deathstalker. "Just going to stand there? Let's have _fun!_ " Sora turned back and laughed in disbelief – she was riding atop an Ursa Major, her weapon forcing the creature to collide with its kin and destroying the weaker Grimm.

"Wow, she's..."

"Nora," Ren said from beside Sora, his voice slightly more emotional than usual. The Keyblade wielder shot a grin at the ninja, who immediately blushed. "Only one like her."

"Sure," Sora said, raising his weapon above his head. "Reflect!" Ren nearly jumped in surprise as an Ursa's claw collided with the Reflega, in a path that would have ended with his head. "You seem distracted, is all."

Ren's eyes narrowed and as soon as the wall dropped, he flipped through the air and over the Ursa's claw. There was a green glint of steel, and the Grimm's head was on the forest floor. From there, he grabbed a spine on the creature's back and flipped it over his body, throwing it into another Grimm and impaling them on its bony protrusions. Dust bullets flew after the corpse, flying through its Dust dispersing body and mowing down the Grimm behind it. He then delivered a sharp flip kick to the head of an incoming Boarbatusk, looping his feet around one of its tusks and bringing it around like a whip to impale another Ursa on its tusks. Sora raised his Keyblade behind him as he stared at Ren's display, leisurely blocking the tail of a Deathstalker that snapped down at his neck. "Cool," Sora said as the Huntsmen brought his guns down and the bullets shattered a young Beowolf's mask and killed it. Sora grinned and summoned a lance of light to the tip of his Keyblade. "My turn."

He let the light fly from the tip of his Kingdom Key, the glittering stream of energy colliding with an Alpha Beowolf and cutting right through it to leave a shining hole in its chest. The creature stood still as stone for a moment, as if it were unsure that it had died. It only took a moment for that to change as every molecule of the monster's body was suddenly charged with Light energy. Every part of the creature suddenly exploded, burning with enough energy to destroy a thousand Heartless. The energy of the explosion contained no force. It didn't blow anything or anyone away. It only sent Light in every direction, purifying what was infested by the Darkness of the Grimm. When the light finally faded and Ren was able to see again, all of the Grimm around them were gone. No corpses, no black Dust, just... gone. "Awww... Teddy," Nora whined. The Ursa she'd been riding hadn't survived either.

Sora grinned and hefted the Keyblade up to rest across his shoulders triumphantly. "That was... cool," Ren pointed out quietly.

"Sora!" Ruby's voice shouted, causing Sora to turn just in time to be grabbed by the shoulders by a Griffon. He was torn form the ground by the Grimm, and he began to think of his way out of things. Those plans, however, were quickly undone when the Griffon seemed to hit an invisible wall, sending Sora and Grimm ricocheting off of the surface and plummeting towards the ground. It hit and rolled, letting the Keyblade wielder go to roll across the ground and stumble to his feet.

"Who did that?" Sora asked, summoning his Keyblade back to his hand and glancing around in confusion. He deflected an incoming Beowolf's attack and knocked it back. It was smacked downwards as it flew through the air, shattering against the ground. Black Dust began to rise from its corpse, forming a cloud of inky blackness above it.

"Why am I not surprised you children are at the center of events beyond you yet again?" a stern voice asked. Sora turned nervously towards the source of the voice, raising his Keyblade defensively. The source of the voice was a stern looking blonde woman. She held her weapon, a black riding crop, in one hand against her hip. There was a wispy, purple and black cloak trailing from her white, form fitting blouse, the sleeves of which laid loose until her forearm at which point they tightened and frilled again at her wrists. A black cinch was buttoned tight around her waist, melting into a similarly colored skirt. Beneath her skirt were a black tights and black, knee high boots with gold heels. "And a new one. Why am I not surprised?" The woman glanced between Sora and Ruby, who was glancing away nervously. Sora looked over at Jaune, who was nearly shivering in half-fear half-respect. The woman's eyes focused on Sora's weapon and her eyes behind her glasses narrowed to dangerous looking slits.

"I take it this Ozpin guy warned you about the Keyblade, too," Sora groaned, gripping the weapon with white knuckles. He was not in the mood to nearly lose to a highly trained huntsmen who probably knew Qrow and could maybe beat him in a fight. The woman took a threatening step towards Sora, who groaned and angled the Keyblade defensively again.

"Wait, Ms. Goodwitch!" Ruby cried as the riding crop snapped upwards, sending the Keyblade flying from Sora's hand. An angry look from the woman cowed Ruby momentarily. "He's traveling with us!"

Sora summoned the Keyblade back to his hand, causing Goodwitch's eyes to widen in surprise and fear. "Why wouldn't Qrow tell me that?" she asked, slapping the crop to the side and sending Sora crashing into a tree. She raised the crop again, then froze as a small beeping noise came from her hip. She raised a finger at Sora and pulled her Scroll out to examine her new message. "'Sorry this is so late, Glyn. I was...' Tipsy? Only tipsy? Dammit, Qrow, you're always _DRUNK_! Ugh... 'tipsy. Ruby's got a boyfriend -'"

"I –!" Sora snapped in surprise.

"'- with a huge key for a sword. He's not the one behind all this. He's not clever or... asshole enough for it. Probably best if you don't kill him. Seeya later.'" Glynda Goodwitch stared at the Scroll angrily as she finished reading the message aloud. Her Scroll quivered in front of her and she looked ready to snap it in two with her bare hand.

"Well, I guess that the CCT is back up," Jaune remarked, trying to defuse the tension. Goodwitch looked like she was about to set fire to the communication tool in her hand and use it to cook Ruby's uncle alive when she found him.

"I'm going to kill him," Ms. Goodwitch finally remarked, not moving her gaze from the screen of her Scroll. "I am going to _murder_ that stupid drunkard."

"He is my uncle you know," Ruby remarked lamely.

"Apologies, Ruby," the blonde woman muttered, quietly putting her Scroll away.

"Where are your pockets?" Sora wondered aloud, not letting the Keyblade in his hands fall while he stared nervously at the Huntress who was still casting stern, disapproving glares in every direction. Sora turned to Ruby. "Where did she put her Scroll?"

"I doubt we have time for this," the blonde woman sighed, ignoring Sora's remarks. She swept her riding crop across her body and stopped suddenly at her left shoulder. Sora tensed, expecting another surprisingly powerful telekinetic blow to send him flying. Instead, he noticed an Ursa tumble over the woman's head and crash through a tree trunk. "You should pay attention when on a battlefield, children. Or have you already forgotten your lessons from Beacon?" The woman turned on one heel and the riding crop and her arm snapped to the side, creating an echoing crack and snapping the Ursa's neck. Glynda looked over her shoulder at the kids. "We will talk after this is over."

Goodwitch turned away and lifted the shattered remains of the tree trunk to use as projectiles, then tossed a worried glance over her shoulder again, as if remembering someone's words. "Good work so far," she told the group, a quiet and sad smile on her face. "Ozpin would be proud."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"I am glad to see you are all well," Glynda remarked, her legs crossed while she examined a tablet-sized Scroll, moving through dossier after dossier. She glanced up through the rims of her glasses at the five kids. Her eyes focused on Ruby and a small smile came to the woman's face. "Though if it were up to me, you would be sent home with a pat on the back... and a slap on the wrist. Taiyang has been calling everyone he knows, trying to find you. Your father is... worried. We all are worried. For _all_ of you."

"Why? We're only fighting against someone who destroyed our entire school, drove the entire world to near collapse, and woke up a Grimm so big it could eat Signal Academy." Ruby remarked, torn between sadness and excitement. "This is everything we've been training for, Ms. Goodwitch."

"No. Simply put, it is not. You were barely into your second year of studies when the Vytal Festival was attacked and... And everything that happened," Glynda snapped, slamming her scroll shut and glaring at the young woman in red. Goodwitch's gaze was daggers coming from heavy, angry eyes. It was at that moment that Sora noticed her eyes had deep, purple circles beneath them and looked like they had spent all of their tears along the way. "Do I see the future of Huntsmen when I watch you four? Yes. Even you, Jaune, at this point are exceedingly skilled. I have seen what is coming, and... the future is a dream at this moment. You are not ready to defeat a Mai- a monster like this one, not yet."

"I think they are," Sora pointedly replied, drawing an irksome glare from the woman and confused, but thankful stares from the Huntsmen-in-Training.

"Now, forgive me... Sora, if I don't care what you think," she growled.

"I know you're worried about them, but that's no reason to get angry with me," Sora retorted, tugging at the crash webbing seat belt and slamming his fists onto his knees. "I know more than a few monsters. They're terrible, and they like to destroy as much light as they can. They want to destroy or take as much as they can. The Light chooses who can fight the Darkness, and they rise up to the challenge. These four, my _friends_ , they'll be up to the challenge no matter what. Their hearts are strong, and they'll figure it out if they need to."

"And you're with them all the way, I suppose? Another child waging the wars of men and women who have trained for decades? Yes, that sounds"

"Who beat Uncle Qrow!" Ruby snapped, causing the blonde woman to uncross her legs and lean forward in surprise.

"He what?"

"He beat Uncle Qrow in a fight," Ruby said again, calmer this time. "I never thought I'd be happy to say someone beat the snot out of him -"

"I wouldn't go _that_ far," Ren muttered. Sora sheepishly shrugged in agreement as he remembered more than a few bruises Ruby's uncle had given him.

"- and apparently destroyed hundreds of Grimm along the way, too. I believe in him just as much as he believes in me – in all of us."

Glynda Goodwitch was silent for a moment, examining the faces of each of the other passengers in turn. She noted the conviction, the intense courage in their eyes. Their desire to fight and change the world. "What about the rest of your team, Miss Rose? Team RWBY, that is."

Ruby's eyes drifted down. "If they wanted to help, they'd be here," she muttered, scowling at the floor. She shifted uncomfortably. "Weiss let her dad take her to the other side of the world, Blake ditched us before the Dragonflies even took off, and Yang... She won't do anything for anyone right now."

"You are their leader. They will follow you," Goodwitch muttered. "Just give it time." She turned to Jaune, Ren, and Nora. "And how are you dealing with the loss of Miss Nikos?"

Ren and Nora glanced at Jaune, who was staring angrily at the ground. The entire room dropped a degree or two as Jaune continued to stare silently. Finally, he piped up. "We're dealing with it."

Goodwitch raised a single eyebrow, but did not remark on how he had responded. "Well, I suppose I can't stop you. Beacon Academy is closed; I'm not your teacher anymore. Besides that, Ozpin was always willing to bend rules for you."

"What... time...s?" Ruby asked, waiting for some sign that the woman didn't know what she was talking about. Goodwitch merely raised an amused eyebrow. "All of them, then."

"I never approved or understood, but he always seemed to know what was best, know a way to get the right people into the right trouble," Glynda responded knowingly. "He trusted you in a way and for reasons that he never revealed, to either Qrow or to myself. Qrow believes you can be trusted to protect yourselves, _and_ that you are bound to be thrown into this war regardless of what we do. I believe Ozpin thought that as well."

"So you're going to let us go?" Sora asked over the droning of the engines.

"It depends," Glynda said, causing Sora to tense in worry. Her presence was powerful and commanding, especially in the small hold of the Bullhead.

"On... what?" Sora asked.

"On how powerful Qrow says you are, a request he has yet to answer. Damn drunkard and his f-" Glynda muttered.

"That drunkard _is_ my uncle," Ruby grumbled pointedly.

"Filthy habits," Glynda corrected, looking a little flustered. "Sorry, Miss Rose, but Qrow takes very little seriously. He's a tad overzealous when it comes to shirking his duties."

"Hehe... Point," Ruby admitted sheepishly. She shrugged and sighed, letting her shoulders fall. It was quiet for a while. "What's going to happen to Beacon?"

"The Council isn't telling anyone. They moved the CCT's main spire from the school over to a temporary location, at least until a new, permanent location can be decided upon," the professor explained, pulling open her Scroll again and entering a file. "James – General Ironwood, that is – is trying to get Atlas to aid in the extermination of the Grimm and the repairs of the city. He is achieving little in the manner of success, as Weiss' father is petitioning their council to cut their losses. He is _very_ persuasive, but the General has thus far kept the Council from agreeing to his plan of using huge Dust reserves to eliminate the Kingdom's central city and, thereby, the Dragon Grimm."

"He'd kill everyone there!?" Sora asked, snapping forward and – impressively – causing his crash webbing to fray. "But – But there are so many people! Innocent people!"

"He's only thinking of his own people instead," Glynda admitted with a sad frown. She looked up from her Scroll. "He would sacrifice anything – everything for his family and his company. Usually he and Ironwood would be allied in that respect, though James is more willing to see the good of the world when it is obvious. To destroy an entire Kingdom would bring catastrophic fear and rage into this world. It is likely that, if there are any in existence, other primordial Grimm would awaken upon the destruction of Vale's populous, the momentary rage, anguish, and fear would be so great... Ozpin referred to the likely event as the Opening, though to what I would not know."

Sora grew quiet. "Opening..." he muttered to himself.

"Do you know something about this?" Goodwitch asked. She unhooked her webbing as the Bullhead landed in Vale's capital city, then advanced towards Sora. Her hand slammed against the bulkhead by his head and he held in a flinch. "The Opening that Ozpin spoke of – what is it?"

"Th –" Sora sighed when King Mickey's words ran through his head again. Whether or not this Opening really did refer to the Door to Darkness, Sora wasn't sure and neither could he reveal the Door's existence to those on Remnant. "I don't know, and guessing wouldn't help anything either. Master Yen Sid always says, 'Do not let your actions exceed your vision.'"

"Wise words," Goodwitch remarked, relenting and backing away from Sora. She turned towards the exit of the Bullhead and gestured with one hand. "In the meantime, I assume you five are in need of supplies, hm?"

Ruby, Ren, Jaune, and Nora glanced over at Sora, then back at Goodwitch. "We're broke," they chorused.

"And I am in debt," Sora said, putting his hands in his pockets and grinning. "Almost... a thousand Lien now?"

"That's... impressive," Goodwitch muttered. She crossed her arms and looked out of the Bullhead. "I believe Junior Xiong has been branching out into the Criminal Underworld since Roman Torchwick's death. I believe you are familiar with him, Ruby, or at least your sister is. Vale's High Council is more than willing to pay for someone to put an early stop to his advance. And this will make for an excellent test of your abilities."

"Oh, we're going to go and wreck up the bear guy's club?" Nora asked, remembering one of Yang's favorite stories to tell. "Dibs on the one in white!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

"So this is the dance club that Junior owns?" Sora asked, glancing around the empty, dark room. "Not a lot of music or light or... oh, it's supposed to be an ambush, isn't it?"

"Safe bet," Jaune remarked dryly, drawing his weapon and extending his shield. "Nora'll take the swan princess, Ren and I will handle crowd control. That leaves... the one in red and Junior, if I'm remembering Yang's story right. What do you think, Ruby?"

"Good plan as any. I'll take the one who thinks she can get away with my color palette! Sora, you take Junior."

"Cool. What's he look like?" Sora asked, crossing his arms and looking around the darkness.

"That'd be me," someone said as the lights flashed on. Sora glanced up at the source of the voice as the lights came back on, revealing an army of men in black suits with red ties and black sunglasses and hats. Above them, on a stage, stood a man dressed similarly, with a white shirt and black vest. He didn't wear sunglasses, though, and had a grin beneath his shaggy beard. He was a giant of a man, standing nearly the same height as a pair of speakers nearby. There was a black and red bludgeoning bat resting on one of his shoulders. "So, I heard Goldilocks was out of commission, but here's little sister Red ready to carry on just like the bimbo."

"You wanna repeat that?" Ruby growled, her silver eyes flashing dangerously. She placed a hand behind her and pulled out Crescent Rose. With a complex flourish, she twirled the weapon around her body, slowly extending the blade of the scythe and letting the red blur slam into the ground of the dimly lit dance club. Junior laughed, though it wasn't as cocky as his voice had been moments earlier. "You know, the last guy to call me Red got eaten by a Grimm."

"Ah, Roman. He always was too stupid to quit while he was ahead," Junior remarked. He sighed contentedly. "Memories." The man glared down at the kids. "So, Vale Council is sending kids to do their dirty work now? And here I thought we could just play nice – I keep the criminals in line, they keep out of my way. Peace."

"That seems a little farsighted from what Yang told me about you," Ruby retorted. She glanced over at Sora, who nodded and summoned the Keyblade back to his hand. The entire room was silent for a while.

Then Junior began to laugh. "What... is _that_?" he asked, clutching at his gut. Sora glared at him in annoyance, lifting the Keyblade onto his shoulder and placing his other hand on his hip. Junior continued laughing. "You're gonna fight my boys with a toy? Wow, that's a good one. I needed a good laugh, you know, thanks."

"Oh, I think I'm going to enjoy this more than I should," Sora remarked, letting the Keyblade fall to his side to grip it with both hands. "I'm not the only one, right?"

"He insulted my sister even when she was nice enough to not burn his nasty club down," Ruby said. She lifted her weapon and readied it, placing the firing end behind her so she could fly towards the woman dressed like a red bird. "Only I can point out that she overdoes... everything!"

"Then let's go, like we planned," Jaune said. He looked over at Sora, then at all of the others. "Go!"

Sora grinned and jumped with all of his might, flying through the air and landing in front of the owner of the club. The man immediately stopped laughing. "That's... impressive," he muttered, lifting his bat up with both hands. "I think... Boys, get 'em all!"

Sora ducked beneath the incoming strike of the bat, lashing out with his fist. Junior stumbled backwards with an "Oomph," then set his feet and brought his bat down heavily to crush Sora. The Keyblade wielder merely rolled to the side and grinned as he came up, raising his Keyblade and twisting it before him. The tip of the Kingdom Key glowed for a moment, then a Blizzara shot from it. The criminal was faster than he looked, though, and batted the spell away with his weapon. "So, you've got an ice semblance. You don't look the usual part, Keyboy."

Sora jumped and twisted over the next attack, the edge of the bat skirting against his hood before he landed and brought the Keyblade across his body. Junior used his bat to slam the Keyblade into the ground, causing some of the glowing tiles to shatter. "I just got that fixed!" Junior snapped, slamming his forehead into Sora's head. The Keyblade wielder stumbled backwards, but his head quickly cleared. He raised his Keyblade and deflected another blow from Junior, messily.

"Ugh. Okay, I'm done holding back," Sora said. He waited for another blow from Junior, then raised his Keyblade and punched the incoming attack with the basket of his weapon. Sora's arm didn't bend at all, causing Junior's eyes to widen in surprise. The criminal pushed harder, trying to gain ground. He failed, and Sora straightened his arm, which sent Junior flying back into his speakers. Sora advanced on the criminal, rolling his shoulder and stretching. "Now, let's see how this place looks after a dance."

With that, Sora raised the Keyblade in front of his body and gestured with his other hand for the club owner to come and get him. Junior did just that, growling in rage and rushing towards the Keyblade Wielder with his bat. Sora laughed and jumped past the flurry of strikes to deliver a heavy blow to Junior's side. The criminal grunted in pain and stumbled sideways, where his face was met with a Keyblade strike. Junior flipped in the air and crashed on his back, with a heavy thud. His bat collided with his gut and he groaned as the air left his lungs again. Sora raised his weapon above his head and smiled down at the worried Junior. "Gather," Sora commanded with a simple grin. A sphere of energy erupted into being above Junior, and the entire room began to shudder around them. Soon, however, Junior's men and the huge speakers around the room began to drag slowly across the floor, gathering speed until they collided above Junior.

"FOOOORE!" Nora screamed. Sora turned in confusion and threw himself to the ground as the white dressed twin flew through the air with a heart shaped imprint on her forehead.

"Coming through!" a tornado of red and black screamed above Sora as he tried to stand up, the force of the attack causing him to crash to the ground. Ruby stopped twirling and another red and black dressed girl crashed into the sphere of metal and goons. Ruby turned to Sora and held out her free hand, which he gladly took to stand up.

"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" Junior asked as the group assembled around him.

"Probably," Sora replied with a smile. He let go of the energy above Junior, and the Magnega slowly disappeared.

"Mommy," Junior whined. Then there was a loud thud as the debris all crashed down on top of him.

"That. Was. Amazing!" Nora screamed excitedly, grinning as a light behind her sparked and fell from the ceiling. Electricity arced from the debris and ran through the electric proof hammer wielder. "Eeeee! That tickled, Ren!"

"I didn't... oh, never mind," the green clad ninja muttered as he turned with the others towards the exit.

"Oh, I know that," Nora assured, doing little to calm Ren's blushing.

Sora laughed along with the others and continued with them. He stopped and glanced over his shoulder, surveying the carnage around them, only to see a large red projectile flying at them. "Reflect!" he snarled, casting a white wall around himself and his friends.

"What are you -" Jaune began, only to stare as the bazooka shot _pang-_ ed off of the Reflega and back at its sender.

"Bad move?" Junior shouted, his voice cracking in fear.

"I'd say probably," Sora agreed, casting a Firaga after the attack, the fire ball absorbing the shot and infusing the pile of goons and party supplies atop Junior. The resulting explosion sent all of the criminals flying, crashing into the walls. Various colored sheens ran across their skins annd they slid down to the floors, unconscious. Junior crawled over towards the group in pain, then fell on his face. "No – that was _definitely_ a bad move."

Sora turned to the others. "So dinner's on me, this time," he said with a grin.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Wow, I guess I didn't realize that there were this many kinds of Dust," Sora muttered, looking around the Dust shop at all the different types.

"You really didn't have to pay us back, you know," Ruby told him, looking up from the weapons catalog she'd found in the back of the shop. She flipped to the next page and looked back down. "The payment from taking Junior down will keep us in the green for a while, and besides, what are friends for?"

"For paying back," Sora replied with a grin. He walked down the aisle of colors. "Red. Yellow. Blue. Green. Purple. White... Geez. What is this stuff?"

"Jeez, the stuff you don't know." Ruby shrugged. She read the last page of the catalog and shut it before putting it beneath her arm. She grunted. "No one really knows, actually. Dad's stories always said, 'From Dust rose Humanity, to Dust they shall return.' Dust is the source of almost everything. Seriously, how is it you don't know this stuff?"

"I haven't been in school for... three years almost?" he replied, standing up and considering that. "And it just didn't seem important. I was too interested in helping my friends out. Kairi was new to the island after Xehanort killed her family and tossed her from her home... island and she washed up on our shores."

"Oh. I... that's terrible," Ruby muttered. Then she sighed and placed the weapon catalog back on the rack. She cleared her throat and changed the topic. "No school in three years, though? Well, I guess between that and living on some secluded island, this all explains how you don't know anything about what's going on right now."

Sora decided to go with it. "Yeah, probably," he said, sure this would explain away any other questions from now on. He froze as he filled a vial of red Dust. "Hm... I... I don't think I've even seen my mom or dad in that long. Heh, they must be worried. Okay, first thing I do when I get back to the islands, I'm going to see them. Not fair to let them worry." He grimaced when he saw Ruby's downtrodden face. "But I have to be away from home, so I think they'll understand. And I think if you give it time, your dad will get that, too."

"Thanks," Ruby muttered, blushing.

Sora returned to filling his vials of different colors of Dust, and they were quiet for a long while as Sora collected the Blue and Yellow Dusts. "So what are your team mates like?" he asked when he walked over to the White Dust.

"Hm?" Ruby asked, pulling down her headphones. "Sorry."

"Oh, um... what are your team mates like? I heard that Goodwitch lady mention them a few times," Sora said. He put the stopper in the vial and placed it in the carrier. "You've been pretty quiet about them, even when Miss Goodwitch asked you."

"They all abandoned the fight," Ruby muttered. She crossed her arms and growled at the ground. "They all abandoned me."

"I'm sure they didn't want to," Sora suggested to calm her down. "Who are they?"

Ruby sighed. "Do I have to?" she inquired.

"I told you all about my friends," Sora pointed out. "So... Yes. Definitely."

Ruby glared at him. "Ugh. Fine," she said, kicking the ground. "Weiss is the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Corporation."

"So she owns everything and a half?" Sora asked.

Ruby snickered. "Good way of putting it," she said. She watched Sora fill up more colors of Dust. "You know how you said Riku was... cold, smart, and angry? Imagine pretty much that. Not to say she wasn't nice, she was just stuck up. She wanted to prove herself to her father and her crazy strong sister, Winter. She didn't really always know how to have fun, but she was learning. Then there's Blake. She was... quiet. Whenever she said something, it was important. Blake hated when things weren't right, and would stick up for any lost cause if it was the right thing to do. She really liked tuna and was sometimes almost as fun as my sis."

"Yang?"

"Yang. She hasn't been herself since everything happened," Ruby said. "Bad jokes with almost as bad a temper. She's fiery."

"Sounds fun," Sora grinned.

"Yeah, but... I actually mean fiery. Like on fire. Ever meet her, don't get her angry," Ruby explained, causing the Keyblade wielder to pall. Ruby laughed at his worried face. "Don't worry, she's usually just a lot of fun. I'm not one for parties, but if you are she plans great ones. Even I have fun at them occasionally."

"You're fun," Sora protested. "And we're fast friends, aren't we?"

"Thanks, and yeah, we are I guess," Ruby explained. "But I'm usually not good with new people."

"You're good with me," Sora remarked. He froze and looked up at her as he filled his last vial with White Dust. "That came out... wrong."

"It's fine," Ruby laughed it off. She glanced down at Sora's selection. "Why only those colors?"

"Um..?" Sora began, rubbing the back of his head. "Let's call it a hunch from my fight with your uncle. If I'm right, you'll see what I mean. It's pretty cool."

"What happens?" Ruby asked.

Sora gripped the container of Dusts more tightly. "Oh, let's let that be a surprise," he said before turning to the cashier. Over his shoulder: "It'll be worth the wait."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Xehanort watched, silently grinning, as his three companions fought to defend him. The lead woman, Cinder, had potential. She was capable of great feats of strength and power, behaving like a fire mage of great knowledge. That was not magic, however. It seemed that the denizens of the Remnant had no knowledge of the Magical arts, instead controlling a primordial energy source known as Dust. She, however, was capable of certain magics of her own. Wind, Frost, Fire, and Lightning bent to her will; though she tried to hide her magic, it was plain as day to one such as Xehanort. Additionally, Darkness radiated through Cinder as she fought the creatures of Darkness, beings that the people of the Remnant called the Grimm.

These creatures were powerful, having very nearly destroyed both Humanity and the animalistic Faunus many times since their creation. Much like the Heartless, they sought to annihilate all in their path and were even attracted by the Darkness in one's heart. Fear, anguish. But they lacked the true power of the Heartless – infection. Whereas the Heartless could steal the Hearts of their victims to create more of their number, the Grimm were... something else entirely. They possibly were created, or maybe born. Regardless of which, Xehanort was sure they could be controlled. With enough Darkness, most anything could.

Cinder jumped backwards, flipping into a handspring then landing on her feet. Using her inborn skills, she crafted weapons from the earth and cut through the chest of the attacking beast, causing it to disintegrate.

"Interesting," Xehanort murmured as the Black Dust drifted upwards from its corpse. Darkness radiated from the rising cloud, drifting away in the wind to be taken elsewhere. The energy of the Dust was intense, filling the Keyblade Master's perception with a sense of familiarity. The Grimm's energy tasted almost exactly like that of the Heartless. Closer to those Xehanort had created while he owned Terra's body – the Emblem Heartless. More and more it seemed that the Grimm were a similar, manufactured facsimile of the Heartless rather than a natural life form. "Very interesting."

Cinder jumped back and raised her arm, sending a stream of glass shards at one of the Grimm, allowing Emerald to jump over it, wrapping her kurasigama around its throat and easily decapitating the creature before throwing its decaying head into one of its kin. The distracted creature was itself killed by a powerful kick from Mercury, blasting a hole in its chest that the boy sailed through. He delivered a spinning kick to the skull of a boar like creature next, slamming its face into the ground and allowing an arrow from Cinder's weapon to pierce its skull.

"Impressive," Xehanort told the group, walking forward and drawing their attention. "Now leave this one to me." There was a flash of Darkness in his hand, and his twisted Keyblade appeared from the shadows. He raised it lazily towards a shattered Ursa, the creature missing both of its hind legs.

"Yes, take the easy one," Mercury grumbled.

"If you had needed my help, you would have deserved to die," Xehanort responded, bringing the weapon close to the Grimm's throat and channeling his Darkness. The monster shuddered, slamming its remaining claws into the ground on either side of the Keyblade Master. Xehanort merely smirked, not even feeling the urge to flinch.

"Bend to my will, creature. Your Darkness is nothing next to mine," Xehanort coldly told the Grimm. He let his Keyblade pierce the creature's flesh; instead of killing the Grimm, the Key entered a pool of Darkness on its flesh. "You have no Heart. Interesting! Darkness more pure than my Emblem Heartless!But your power is not on the same level. Obey." The pool of shadows pulsed and the Grimm shrieked in pain again. Then its claws fell to the ground and it shakily bowed to the Keyblade Master.

"Are you..?" Mercury asked, terror running through his voice.

"Well, that was easier than I had hoped. Weak creatures... but with the right touches..." Xehanort smiled evilly and let the pool of Darkness disappear. The Grimm cried out in pain once more, and fell apart. Xehanort pulled a vial from his belt and collected the dissipating Dust before it could float away. "This shows promise. Perhaps I can make a better creature." Xehanort surged to his feet and closed the vial. "We're losing time, Children. Take me to this... 'Haven.' Time is of the essence."

"When you look twenty minutes from the Grave, sure," Mercury chuckled. Xehanort cast a cold glare in the boy's direction. Mercury smirked, torn between fear and his desire to thrash against authority. Finally: "Whatever. I'm bored – got places to see, people to go."

"Idiot," Emerald muttered as she shoved past Mercury. Eventually, he turned and chased after the green haired woman, the fear more obvious on his shoulders as the woman's gaze left him.

Xehanort snorted to himself. The boy was infatuated with the girl. That would be a useful tool when the time came. He returned his attention to the Black Dust in its vial, watching the material writhe, each speck trying to rise through the others. "Most interesting..."


	5. The Seeker of Darkness

**AN: Hey everyone, I want to say that I love the outpouring from the community so far. It's really kind of funny to see the difference between the three story groups I post in – this one definitely has the most community interaction so far.**

 **Now for responses to questions!**

 **To Keyslinger Roxas: Don't worry, I totally plan on introducing some of Sora's awesome new powers that we've seen in the Kingdom Hearts 3 ads so far, but I'd like to see a few more trailers for them or maybe even get a chance to play if/when a demo is released and even more in the official game. I want to get a better feel for them before I jump right into tossing Space Mountain into the mix. As for the other Keyblades showing up, I'm of a mind with you. While the Kingdom Key will remain Sora's "default," since there have been cutscenes in the past that change the equipped weapon back to it thus suggesting it might be what he "actually" uses, once Sora figures out his Drive Forms the other ones will be showing up more and more. Like in the first chapter, Final Form will use what I always thought of as the "standard" Synch-Blade pair of Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Valor will be Kingdom Key and Star Seeker. The others aren't set in stone so far, but I'm thinking Two become One for Wisdom since it doesn't have Synch-Blade, Ultima Weapon for Limit, and Master will show up in this chapter. One of my favorite Keyblades, Fenrir, might show up later, too, or at least something that is based on it.**

 **And honestly, I update on a cycle usually. By doing a chapter for my Star Wars story, then my Elder Scrolls story, then this one and repeating, I've found it helps me think up new ideas for the other stories in the cycle and to even finish the chapters faster. Also, it ensures that I never fall behind too far in any of them!**

 **Finally, here comes the next chapter. We're almost halfway to Haven now, so please, read, enjoy, and drop a review so I can know what I'm doing well.**

 _ **Chapter 5: The Seeker of Darkness**_

Sora groaned as light began to leak through his closed eyelids, the dull red interspersed with spots of black and purple that flashed with every dull thud of pain that throbbed across his entire body. He groaned again when the noise of an explosion slammed through his eardrums, instinctively forcing his eyes open and causing the sounds of the entire world to become nothing but a loud, sharp ringing noise; the Kingdom Key was a few feet away from his outstretched hand, covered in dirt. The heat from the fires pressed into Sora's back and he growled in discomfort. With a wavering hand, he reached out and grabbed the Keyblade, panting heavily as he did. Then he turned the blade down and jammed it into the ground as a way to help him stand. The world swayed painfully as he got to his feet, each eye perceiving the surrounding forest as turning in opposite directions. The Keyblade wielder closed his eyes and shook his head, violently trying to clear his mind.

He opened them again and fought to hold in his fear. Xehanort was advancing on him, cruel, black Keyblade dragging across the floor of the forest, casting echoing screeches every time the metal dragged across a stone. As well as he could, Sora pulled his Kingdom Key out of the ground and brought it in front of him defensively. It was shaking from side to side, rattling around in his loose grip. Xehanort laughed and began to monologue to the young Keyblade wielder, contorting his hands in a way that made Sora's hurt and cackling at the sky. Then he raised his Keyblade at Sora and placed his other hand behind his back before continuing with his speech. _Jeez, villains and their monologues_ , Sora groaned inwardly, still trying to blink off the double world he was seeing. _Where are Ruby and the others?_

As if in response, he saw the red clad girl dash through his field of vision, then dash again when a fireball woman in red landed where she had been a moment before. The woman's feet were surrounded by dying fires as she landed, likely meant to kill the other young woman. _Cinder_ , Sora thought instinctively. He returned his attention to Xehanort. "... at right, Sora?" The man asked, right before rushing at the Keyblade wielder. Sora dove to the side, barely dodging the blow in time. He rolled back to his feet, but his vision slid to the side and he fell to one knee. He felt like he was about to blow chunks. He struggled to remember – how had it gotten like this?

 _ **R W B Y**_

Two and a Half Hours Earlier

Sora grinned as he walked down the forest pathway with his friends, the five of them trading embarrassing stories. A surprising number from all of them were at Jaune's expense, though he took it like a champ, even managing to dole out a few that made everyone else blush in embarrassment. "... and then he tries to introduce himself as 'Jaune Arc. Short. Sweet. Ladies love it,'" Ruby said, her voice taking on the same tone as her friends as she copied him.

"He introduced himself that way to _every girl in school_ ," Nora pointed out. She was barely containing her thunderous laughter as she continued the story. "Even Coco. Yatsuhashi almost punted him through a wall."

At that, everyone laughed. Sora didn't know who those people were, but the idea of the story itself was funny enough. The Jaune that Sora had met was much more... reserved than the one that their friends kept telling stories about. "Oh, you think that's bad?" Jaune asked. He smirked and pointed at Ruby. "She accidentally blew herself up... and then for the first week of school told people to call her Craterface!"

Sora snorted at that and stumbled, the laughter throwing him off guard. "You... asked to be called that?"

"I don't... know... how to... people!" Ruby protested, her face turning a blazing maroon. She quickly joined in with the laughter as well, doubling over and clutching at her gut as she remembered how some of the other students had called her that for the rest of the semester. Deciding it was time for the others to join in on the fun again, Ruby looked over at Nora. "For future signaling reference, just what noise _does_ a sloth make?"

"Oh, dear," Ren muttered, placing his hand over his eyes.

"You... Told them!?" Nora asked, a look of mock horror on her face. Sora couldn't help himself and summoned a flash of magic lightning down behind her, just to add to the mood. Nora went with it, forcing her voice to break. "How could you betray me like that?! You've broken my _heart_."

"Every time someone brings it up," Ren muttered to himself, though he was chuckling slightly at the events as well. He stood up straight. "I'm still not sure if sloths make much noise."

Ruby and Jaune glanced at each other, stifling laughter. Sora knew what came next would be the funniest part of this little story. As soon as Nora began to speak, they joined in. "That's why no one will expect it!" Sora laughed at this, though not as hard as the others. He was guessing that he had to be there for it to really appreciate the joke, but it was still pretty funny. He could imagine just how Nora would have said it, and – even better – _meant_ it. He thought it summed her usual character up pretty well. Sora smiled as he watched his friends continue to trade stories, glad to see that the change from how they had been acting three weeks earlier. It was like they were brighter. Happier. Sora was sure he was doing his job right if that was the case.

He opened his mouth to tell a story of Jaune's, one he'd learned when the knight had taken one too many hits during a training session, when it happened. The air grew cold, and the shadows around them in the forest began to darken. "Guys," he warned, his voice a low, worried growl. They couldn't hear him over their conversation and laughter. "Guys!"

They turned at the worry in his voice. "What's wrong, Sora?" Ruby asked, her hand already on Crescent Rose. He raised his hand, one of his fingers up, and pressed it to his mouth. He wasn't usually one for being quiet, but the feeling of the Darkness that was approaching was too familiar, too oppressive to try for anything else. He dropped his hand and let the energy of the Keyblade appear in his grip, ready to fight against whatever it was that was coming. "Did you hear something?"

"Do you feel that?" he asked quietly. The shadows began to grow darker.

"Now that you mention it..." Jaune muttered, shivering. The others noticed it one by one as well, the cold aura of a powerful Darkness advancing towards them. They drew their weapons and arranged themselves in a circle, looking around anxiously for whatever it was that was coming for them. Sora tensed as the leaves nearby rustled, and he raised his Keyblade, ready to fire off one of his spells. The leaves rustled again, and the entire group spun to fire at the one spot simultaneously. Sora sent off a burst of different spells, Firagas, Blizzagas, Gravigas, while the others launched their bullets and grenades and sniper rounds at whatever was coming. Except Jaune, who pretty much only had a sword. They stopped their screaming and firing a moment later, and a harmless rabbit bounced out from behind the treeline. The entire group's eyes just followed the small animal as it slowly made its way across the forest path, stopping midway to stare up at them. It cocked its head to the side, its small nose twitching up and down before scratching at its face with one of its fore paws. Then it slowly continued bouncing away.

"That. Was. Embarrassing," someone said from behind the group.

Ruby's eyes lit up with anger and she turned on her heel, reloading her rifle as she did and getting a shot off at Mercury before he could dodge. Unfortunately for her, the attack was easily deflected by someone she _didn't_ recognize.

In front of the smirking, silver haired criminal who stood shoulder to shoulder with Emerald and Cinder Fall herself, was an old man. He wore a long, deep gray and charcoal overcoat with huge pockets and way too many straps. His hands hands were in white gloves that tucked into his coat and shirt, which had huge, white cuffs. His eyes were a burning, sulfuric yellow that seemed to both clash with and complement his mocha skin tone. He was holding a twisted hunk of black metal in one hand, the weapon covered in swirling, white veins; a twisted farce of Sora's own weapon, in many ways. A Keyblade. Strapped to his back was a large 'X' made out of two Keyblades identical to Sora's, with a rusting, snowflake-like pattern erupting from between them. It had a jagged blade from which inky, Darkness smoked. And, to top it off, he had the most cliché bad guy goatee of all time.

Sora narrowed his eyes and slowly put himself between the man and his friends. "Xehanort," he growled as he raised his Keyblade defensively. He looked at the others until his eyes fell on a rather attractive, if cruel looking woman. "And you must be the infamous Cinder Fall." Sora cast a look over his shoulder to see how the others were doing. Jaune looked like he was barely containing his rage. But he _was_ containing it. Sora's glare returned to Xehanort. "I knew it would just be a matter of time until I found you."

"Who the hell's this chump?" the silver haired one asked the green haired one. "Emerald, he looks like a wimp, huh?"

"Mercury," the girl hissed in reply, her kurasigama-guns gesturing between the two Keyblades. "I doubt that."

"Right," he responded sheepishly, returning to a ready position and bouncing from side to side.

"Who is this person, Xehanort?" Cinder finally asked, her eyes drifting over each of the children disinterestedly. Her eyes settled on Ruby for a moment, and a flash of something dangerous went through her face, but it was quickly hidden and her eyes locked on Sora. Specifically his weapon. She wondered if she could find a way to use one of these weapons, then? Would it make her more powerful? Powerful enough to escape her Destiny? "How does he know you?"

The Keyblade master didn't respond. He ignored her question and smiled evilly at Sora. "I knew I would find you here," he said, still standing with his weapon in its guard position. "You followed me through that portal, even if it meant never seeing your friends again. I must say, that's either incredibly brave or absurdly stupid, boy."

"Someone has to stop you," Sora retorted, trying to think up a plan. The fight was five on four, which meant one of the enemy could get locked in a two on one fight. The question was... who? Sora wouldn't let anyone else try to fight Xehanort; they were strong but... well, he was barely even that strong. The silver haired guy and the green headed girl seemed to be taking orders, given how they glanced at Cinder every few moments. So they had to take out Cinder before those two. She'd be the one they double teamed in battle. Whatever he did, however, he had to keep Jaune out of that fight. He frowned and whispered just low enough that only Ruby, was standing just next to him, could hear. "Two on one with Cinder. Don't let Jaune fight her. Stay away from Xehanort." Ruby thought about protesting for a moment, then stopped and nodded slightly before conveying the information to the others. Jaune let out a quiet, indignant scoff. To Xehanort: "Why did you come here?"

"Oh, yes, I'll reveal all that I know to you right now. Right here. And then we'll fight, and... you'll win," Xehanort said before cackling. He narrowed his eyes on Sora. "Is that how you think this is going to turn out, Sora?"

"You forgot about me finding a way to drag you back to Master Yen Sid and King Mickey," Sora growled. He took a step forward and changed his grip on the Keyblade so he was ready to attack. Then he dashed forward, slashing at the Keyblade Master, only to have his attack blocked by Cinder. He pushed against her and she began to lose ground to him.

"Don't bother," Xehanort told her quietly. He summoned a portal of Darkness beneath the woman and she disappeared, causing Sora to stumble forward into Xehanort's attack. He raised his Keyblade just in time to block it. Another portal of Darkness appeared a moment later and a shocked, worried Cinder appeared where she had been standing a moment before. "Go play with the kids." Cinder's eyes narrowed in annoyance at that, but she looked back at Sora – a mere child who was glaring at Xehanort like they were equals and long time enemies – and knew she was horribly outclassed at the moment. She scoffed and motioned for the others to attack before jumping off to fight with the Silver Eyed girl.

"I was hoping to run into you soon," Xehanort said as his Keyblade and Sora's crackled, their opposite energies snapping wildly at each other. Sora took a deep breath and held in his response, instead focusing on whatever it was he was going to do in this fight. He'd only won before because of Donald, Goofy, and Riku. But on the other hand, Xehanort had also had the **χ** -blade then, so his power would be a lot lower now, too. All in all? Sora wasn't quite sure how this fight would go. All he knew was that he _needed_ to win it.

Sora took a step back from Xehanort, who did the same, still grinning maniacally, and the two entered their respective ready stances. "So was I," Sora responded before launching himself at the man. Their Keyblades clashed with the sound of thunder, sending a huge explosion of air rushing away from them. There were shouts of surprise as the energy released caused the other combatants to lose their footing and fly through the air. Sora stopped pushing first, letting himself spin with the sudden shift in momentum to attack Xehanort from the other side of his head. The Keyblade Master merely laughed and raised his Keyblade defensively, easily blocking Sora's attack.

"You've gotten stronger, Seeker of Light," Xehanort said with a dark grin. He laughed and shoved Sora off, the younger Keyblade wielder tumbling through the air before righting himself and skidding across the dirt. He raised his Keyblade in time to deflect a powerful blow from Xehanort, then lock blades when another came down. "Though not strong enough." The Keyblade Master twisted his Keyblade and dragged it back, catching the Kingdom Key in his weapon's teeth and using the connection to throw Sora again. As Sora flew through the air, Xehanort raised his left hand; a moment later it flew back from the sheer force of the Dark Firaga he had unleashed. Sora's eyes widened and he raised his Keyblade, casting a Reflega. The Dark spell pushed against the wall he had summoned for a moment, then seemed to hitch on something and flew upward. The fire dragged through the tree branches, igniting them, then exploding above the tops of the trees. Black fire rained down, leaving burning cinders on the dirt around them.

"I'm strong enough," Sora replied, and he rushed back at Xehanort. "To beat you!"

Ruby, meanwhile, was teamed up with Nora against Cinder, and the two of them were doing their best to keep her occupied until Ren defeated Emerald and could help them out. Ruby crouched and spun beneath a spray of glass shards the woman had summoned, spinning Crescent Rose along her back as she did. As soon as she cleared the attack, she stood and used the built up momentum in her weapon to slash down at Cinder, who merely scoffed. The wind picked up in the path of Ruby's scythe and her weapon – and her by extension – was thrown away by a small tornado. "What was that!?" she shouted, slamming Crescent Rose into the ground to stop herself.

Nora didn't have time to guess, as she was now unleashing her own devastating blows on Cinder. Or they would have been devastating, had any of them connected. Every time that the girl brought Magnihild around, Cinder would lithely step just out of her reach or roll beneath the attack. With an angry growl, the redhead slammed her weapon into the ground, something that Cinder hadn't been expecting. The earth shattered around the two, then a circle of it crumbled and began to fall. Cinder flailed in the air for a moment, then caught herself with a stream of fire from her feet.

Ruby didn't know what was going on with the woman, but she wasn't going to let it faze her. As Cinder began to rise from the hole, the villainess summoned a ball of fire to her outstretched palm and pointed it at Nora. Ruby arrived just in time, getting a successful shot off on Cinder. Her scythe crashed into the woman's midsection and sent her flying into a nearby tree. The fireball went wide as Cinder flailed, her hand pointing towards Xehanort as the fireball went off. He barely took time from his fight with Sora to lazily neutralize the attack.

"Why do you always interfere!?" Cinder screamed as she tore herself out of the tree trunk, the tree suddenly igniting in flames and quickly burning away to ash. Ruby didn't answer, instead readying her scythe to attack again. "Every time I do anything, there you are."

"I could say the same to you," Ruby finally retorted. There was a loud bang and she rushed towards the criminal, scythe extended behind her for a heavy attack.

At the same time, Ren and Emerald were engaging in a quick fight between ninjas, the two effortlessly dodging every one of the other's attacks. His twin guns slashed down through air and she lashed out with her chains. The two easily ended their own attacks and dodged the death blows, landing back to back. Ren was the first to understand and looped his arms over Emerald's shoulders. He lifted her up and jumped. "Let me go!" she shouted.

He hit the ground with her beneath him, then rolled to his feet and used the momentum to throw her away. "If you insist," he remarked, running after her and firing off a volley of his Dust bullets after her. She gasped in pain when they collided with her midsection and she tumbled into the darkness of the forest. Ren waited for the inevitable counter attack, and easily dodged the two chains that flew out of the forest, even firing off a few bullets towards where they had come from. However, his eyes widened when he saw another pair of chains and sickles flying at him from his left. He twisted mid air to dodge them and saw yet another pair flying at him from behind. He growled to himself and reached out to grab one of the chains to dodge again. However, his hand passed through the weapon and he continued to fall right into the path of... more fake chains. He gasped in surprise as the illusion passed through him, but his surprise couldn't last long as another pair of sickles slammed into his back from where he had thrown the girl and he was soon buried face first in the trunk of a tree. He pushed himself out and narrowed his eyes. "Illusionists..."

"So, you're that redhead's boy toy, right?" Mercury asked Jaune as he tried to break through the blonde's powerful defense, to little avail. Jaune set his brow and tried to ignore the criminal's remarks, counterattacking whenever he could. "The dead one who used to be on cereal boxes. Oh, what was her name?" He lashed a kick out at Jaune's head, but it was deflected by the blonde's shield. Jaune twisted the shield so that, instead of stopping, Mercury would skid along it and be unable to stop himself. Then he brought his sword down on Mercury's leg with a grin, knowing he'd destroyed his enemy's weapon.

Or not. "Wow, I underestimated you," Mercury said as the sword _dinged_ uselessly against his leg. He grabbed hold of Jaune's arm and twisted around it midair so he could loop his legs around Jaune's throat and bring him down. He jumped away from the prone knight and laughed. "Which is hard to do when you're fighting the weakling of the group."

Jaune opened his eyes and pushed himself to his feet. "What..." he began. "Did you just say?"

"You know, I feel a little offended that they think _I_ am the weak one of my team," Mercury continued, a smug, shit-eating grin on his face. He gestured between himself and Jaune. "I mean, _I_ had to _purposely_ lose for that blonde bimbo to beat me. You really think that you can take me if Red and her sister couldn't? Hell, I can't believe she's lasted this long against Cinder. Longer than Cereal Box did, at least."

Jaune couldn't take it anymore. He rushed at Mercury with a wild, angry battle cry, his wild slashes coming down to kill the silver-haired boy just moments after he had left that spot. "Ooh, close, but not close enough," Mercury taunted as he ducked under another wild swipe. He raised his leg to block the next one and used the collision to deliver an ax kick to Jaune's head. Imagine his surprise when he hit the shield instead. Jaune stared at the ground, his sword at his side. "Hey, earth to idiot."

"You made a mistake," Jaune growled, raising his gaze to glare angrily at Mercury. The assassin froze at what he saw. Jaune's eyes were filled with a _lot_ of rage, burning with the same kind of hate that Xehanort's did on a good day. "A big mistake."

Mercury gulped. He wasn't sure why, but he was starting to get that feeling, too. Of course, that didn't stop him from continuing his poorly conceived onslaught of insults. "You know, Cinder says that Cereal Box was glad to die in the end. Probably so she could get away from you."

He was immediately shut up by a sword blade to the jaw. He gasped in pain as he stumbled away from Jaune. He checked his Scroll on the underside of his wrist – that one hit had taken out more than a quarter of his Aura reserves. He glanced up just in time to duck beneath an equally powerful blow from the swordsman before dashing away. He fired off a few shots from his boots, but the blonde just walked through them like they were nothing. The silvery bolts just glanced harmlessly off of the kid's shoulders. _His Aura must be... massive_ , Mercury thought to himself. He jumped away again. Okay, time to start thinking and fighting. This was going to be an interesting fight for once.

Without a word, Mercury ran from Jaune right towards Emerald. "Hey, Round the World!" he shouted at her. She glanced in his direction, casting a sarcastic glare at him about being unable to beat Jaune by himself. In response, he just gestured at Ren, who was effectively learning the ins and outs of her illusionist semblance. She sighed and tossed the chains towards her old partner. He grabbed them and wrapped them around his wrists before jumping and letting Emerald control where he went. He fired off some of his Dust mines every so often as she continued spinning him around her until a silvery wall surrounded them, Jaune, and Ren. The Swordsman barely noticed, however, and made his way into the path of the chains. He brought his sword down on top of them and they began to loop around as he buried his weapon tip first into the dirt. Mercury let go of the chains and soared into Jaune's chest, landing a kick and bouncing off. The blonde didn't even look fazed.

"Then... how about this!" Mercury said, pointing up. He brought his hands down and the mines began to flood the area, flying towards Ren and Jaune. Ren did his best to dodge them, only getting hit by a few. Jaune just stood there, taking blow after explosive blow all while glaring right at Mercury.

"Uh, Merc," Emerald said, grabbing his shoulder and trying to pull him away.

He gulped. "You do care," he replied, stepping away with her as Jaune advanced slowly towards them. He didn't bother pulling his sword from the ground as he passed it, instead unlatching his shield from his arm and gripping it by the sides, as if he were going to use it as a bludgeoning weapon.

"Jaune!" Ren shouted, trying to snap his friend out of whatever was consuming him.

Sora turned as he heard that and cursed to himself. He fired a Stopga off at Xehanort. The old man dodged, but did not follow Sora. He instead stopped and began to examine the other young man. He dispelled his Keyblade as he waited for Sora to return and glared at Jaune Arc, at the massive Light and Darkness warring in his Heart. It was like looking at Terra or Riku all over again. Xehanort chuckled darkly to himself: the Remnant became more and more interesting with every moment that he walked its surface.

Sora ran towards the blonde warrior, who was still shrugging off attack after attack like they were nothing. "Jaune, stop!" he shouted as he sprinted past Ren. He brought the Keyblade up to block one of the silvery wisps rushing at him and kept running. "Jaune, don't do this!" The blonde didn't listen, still advancing threateningly towards Emerald and Mercury. The green haired girl fired a few shots at Jaune, but he angled his shield and they ricocheted back at her. Mercury jumped in their path and deflected them with his leg.

"Damn it," Sora growled. He jumped forward as quickly as he could and raised his Keyblade. "Reflect!" Jaune's shield that was coming down crashed into the wall of light, and the bubble containing Sora, Mercury, and Emerald flew back to crash into a tree, where it shattered. Sora raised his Keyblade defensively and looked over his shoulder at Mercury and Emerald, then back at Jaune. The blonde swordsman had physical darkness rising from his shoulders, tendrils of the wispy, inky blackness coiling upward. _Riku..._ Sora furrowed his brow and let Jaune advance. "Jaune, snap out of it!"

"I'm going to kill them for what they did to Pyrrha," Jaune growled, ignoring Sora's pleading. He just kept walking slowly towards them.

"Jaune!" Sora snapped again. He rushed forward, brandishing his Keyblade. The weapon collided with Jaune's unbreakable shield and rebounded with a _clang_. Sora turned on his heel and slashed diagonally upwards. The weapon crashed into Jaune's shield at the bottom, twisting it and forcing it flying into the air. Sora dashed forward with his Keyblade outstretched. His hand and weapon glowed as he summoned a spark of Light magic running along it. The blade of the Kingdom Key extended as he attacked, driving a bright white blade through Jaune's chest. The air shimmered around the young man as the shadows slowly began to disappear, Sora's Keyblade having locked his heart from the Darkness... temporarily. Sora caught the blonde as he fainted and turned to angle his weapon at Emerald and Mercury. "Don't. Touch him." They glanced between each other and nodded fearfully. They didn't want to risk angering someone who had just fought with Xehanort and hadn't died immediately. Sora slowly dragged Jaune over to a tree and leaned him against it.

"Nora, take over with this," he shouted, glaring at Mercury and Emerald.

Ren materialized beside him. "What did you do?" he asked, torn between threatening and thanking Sora for attacking his team leader.

"Later," Sora told Ren. His eyes were already fixed on the hungry, skin crawling grin that Xehanort was flashing in his direction. Sora frowned. No, at Jaune. Sora got ready to run. "Deal with them then help Ruby." Then he took off, Kingdom Key flashing threateningly and colliding with Xehanort's demonic weapon.

"Is that hate I see in your eye, Sora?" Xehanort asked mockingly. He raised his Keyblade like lightning and deflected Sora's next attack, letting them ricochet off and drift slowly before appearing suddenly to block the next assault. He brought his Keyblade down, letting Sora's run through the opening in the center before twisting it to the side. Sora felt his Keyblade get torn from his hands and saw Xehanort grab the Kingdom Key by its handle. He swung both the weapons around at Sora as he tried to summon his weapon back. Sora ducked beneath the attack just in time, feeling the weapons glide through his hair. This gave Sora the time he needed to concentrate on summoning his weapon back and launching a vertical strike at the Dark Keyblade Master.

Xehanort grunted when the weapon crashed into his body, sliding all the way up to his chin. His goatee crumpled and he flipped, landing on his chest a short ways from Sora. "I keep underestimating you," Xehanort grunted while he forced himself up to his feet. He twirled his Keyblade in his hand before raising beside his head. Sora's eyes drifted from that weapon to the one strapped across Xehanort's back. The Dark Keyblade Master noticed, and chuckled softly. "I see you've noticed the **χ** -blade. Or, what's left of it after your attempts to destroy it."

"It... it should be gone," Sora muttered. He glared into Xehanort's evil, yellow eyes. Their gazes met with almost physical sparks of lightning and fire. Sora dropped his Keyblade to his side and swept his off hand in front of himself, as if denying what he was seeing. "Master Yen Sid said that breaking it at all should have made it disappear after a few minutes! If it's still here..." Sora glanced up to reassure himself. No, Kingdom Hearts wasn't glistening in the sky above. "H – you know, I don't know if I care about the how. I'll just take it from you and figure it out later."

Xehanort laughed at that. "As if a child like you ever could," he retorted, already dashing towards the young Keyblade wielder. Sora growled and raised his Keyblade, deflecting the blow. He dashed back and slashed out with his sword, causing one of the trees to begin falling.

"Tttimmmm-bbbberrrrrr!" Sora shouted as it fell, landing on his shoulders. With a grunt and a heave, he tossed the ancient tree at his opponent. Xehanort continued running right for Sora, only stopping to drop to his side and slide beneath the attack before quickly making his way back to his feet. Sora grimaced as the tree crashed through others, causing birds and squirrels to run away in fear. But he couldn't deal with that right then. He rushed at Xehanort again and their Keyblades clashed.

 _Should I use it?_ Sora wondered as he continued trading blows with the other Keyblade wielder, every one creating an echoing boom whenever the weapons collided. He subconsciously reached towards the energy in the back of his Heart, almost deciding to try for a Drive Form again. But he quickly stopped. He caught sight of the others fighting their opponents. Ruby was holding her own against Cinder, even managing to get off a few of her own shots against the criminal, nothing serious, but she was safe. Nora was slowly gaining ground on Mercury, who kept casting nervous glances at the still unconscious Jaune. Ren was on equal footing with the green girl, trading blows at a nearly one to one rate. Sora jerked away from the power and slashed at Xehanort again. He grinned as Xehanort's weapon faltered slightly from the blow. _Don't need to_.

"Thinking you stand a chance, Sora?" Xehanort asked when he noticed the younger man's goofy grin. The old man snarled and flipped away from another of Sora's attacks, launching a Dark Firaga at the boy as he did. Sora merely twisted in place, letting the attack crash into the blade of the Kingdom Key. Sora took a step forward and slashed upward, deflecting the attack back at its caster. Even as he did, however, another Dark Firaga flew at him from and he was forced to jump to the side. The resulting explosion burned away a cluster of trees and sent black flames raining down around them. The magical flames rarely ignited any flames on the other trees, the ones that did flickering out just moments later. Sora gasped as Xehanort appeared above him. Sora raised the Kingdom Key as quickly as he could, barely catching the resulting attack. "That's a dangerous lie to believe."

"Why here?" Sora asked just loud enough for Xehanort to hear. Sora tensed his legs and with all of his might shoved the man's weight off. Sora jumped to full height and charged Xehanort, unleashing a flurry of attacks faster than most could see. Xehanort was able to dodge each of them... barely. "Why come to this world?"

"If you don't know that by now, you'll have to wait and see like the rest of the Remnant," Xehanort responded with an evil grin. He twisted his Keyblade to a backhand and brought it down over head and into the Kingdom Key's basket. Sora's guard faltered suddenly, and he was forced to one knee. He was barely able to look up in time to notice a black boot streak into his face before all went dark.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Qrow watched the fight far below with a tense sort of interest. Ruby was busy fighting against Cinder Fall all by herself. She was fighting a _Maiden of Autumn,_ someone who had taken out Oz... and she was doing pretty damn well. Of course, that probably meant that the woman was holding back, cautiously trying to understand just what Ruby's skills were. Qrow didn't blame her; he'd seen Summer use her Silver Eyes a few times. Nothing like what Ruby had unleashed on the Dragon Grimm, but it was pretty scary none the less. That Ruby was even doing well against Cinder's half-best, Qrow decided to take as a compliment of his teaching abilities. "I'm the best damn teacher in the world," he said, incapable of staying serious even when his niece was in mortal danger. Of course, maybe that courage was really just the alcohol running through his veins.

Qrow turned his attention from Ruby and Cinder, looking at the other combatants one at a time. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, warriors who had grown up together in an orphanage. They'd trained together every night for years before eventually getting a scholarship to Signal and later to Beacon. Good complements, with his cool head and wordless demeanor offsetting the girl's own manic personality and 'hit first, ask questions never' ideology. That didn't stop him from being clueless about how she really felt about him as well, nor her from having the bluster to ask. There were bigger things on their minds anyways.

The man narrowed his eyes when he saw the other two kids. Mercury and Emerald, if he remembered from the Vytal Festival. "So I guess you aren't crazy, eh Firecracker?" he breathed, thinking back to when Yang had viciously attacked Mercury without reason. Here he was, his knee perfectly fine. Helping Cinder. For a moment he wished Yang _had_ snapped him in two. Now he was losing ground to Nora. Emerald meanwhile was trading blows with Ren, a perfect match.

And Jaune... Qrow had been really worried about Jaune for a moment there. Sure, he'd come a long way since faking his transcripts to get into the school, but he wasn't sure if the kid was ready for this. Whatever had happened during his fight with Mercury... he was starting to believe that was indeed the case. He'd even attacked Sora in his march to kill Cinder's goons. Qrow frowned as he remembered. Jaune had been that Nikos girl's boy toy. No wonder he got so angry... but if he kept endangering Ruby like that.

And there was that other guy. From how he looked, he was sure that this was the Xehanort Sora had described. He had laughed for a moment when he'd seen him – cliché villain didn't even begin to describe it. Of course, that didn't detract from how terrifying he was. Even as far away as he was, Qrow could tell that the guy was bad news. He scared Sora, and Qrow wasn't sure if he'd like to go toe to toe with Sora again. His fear only increased when he saw the guy shoot a huge, black fireball from his hand. "Ho. Ly. Sh. It," Qrow muttered, the resulting explosion even reaching him. Pine needles began to rain down around the battlefield.

Then Sora was taken out. "Damn it, I -" Qrow began. He tore his weapon from his back, then froze. Sora was pushing himself back to his feet. And he stood like something was about to change. Deciding to trust his niece and her friends for a few more minutes, Qrow clipped his scythe to his back again and crouched to observe. "What do you have planned, kiddo?"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora groaned as light began to leak through his closed eyelids, the dull red interspersed with spots of black and purple that flashed with every dull thud of pain that throbbed across his entire body. He groaned again when the noise of an explosion slammed through his eardrums, instinctively forcing his eyes open and causing the sounds of the entire world to become nothing but a loud, sharp ringing noise; the Kingdom Key was a few feet away from his outstretched hand, covered in dirt. The heat from the fires pressed into Sora's back and he growled in discomfort. With a wavering hand, he reached out and grabbed the Keyblade, panting heavily as he did. Then he turned the blade down and jammed it into the ground as a way to help him stand. The world swayed painfully as he got to his feet, each eye perceiving the surrounding forest as turning in opposite directions. The Keyblade wielder closed his eyes and shook his head, violently trying to clear his mind.

He opened them again and fought to hold in his fear. Xehanort was advancing on him, twisted black Keyblade dragging across the floor of the forest, casting echoing screeches every time the metal dragged across a stone. As well as he could, Sora pulled his Kingdom Key out of the ground and brought it in front of him defensively. It was shaking from side to side, rattling around in his loose grip. Xehanort laughed and began to monologue to the young Keyblade wielder, contorting his hands in a way that made Sora's hurt and cackling at the sky. Then he raised his Keyblade at Sora and placed his other hand behind his back before continuing with his speech. _Jeez, villains and their monologues_ , Sora groaned inwardly, still trying to blink off the double world he was seeing. _Where are Ruby and the others?_

As if in response, he saw the red clad girl dash through his field of vision, then dash again when a fireball woman in red landed where she had been a moment before. The woman's feet were surrounded by dying fires as she landed, likely meant to kill the other young woman. _Cinder_ , Sora thought instinctively. He returned his attention to Xehanort. "... at right, Sora?" The man asked, right before rushing at the Keyblade wielder. Sora dove to the side, barely dodging the blow in time. He rolled back to his feet, but his vision slid to the side and he fell to one knee.

Sora forced himself to his feet and cast a Cure. "Get behind me!" he shouted, raising his Keyblade defensively. He stood at the ready with his weapon before him and waited for everyone to listen. Xehanort just snorted and motioned for his own group to retreat as well.

"What do you have planned?" Ruby asked as she drew close, Nora and Ren dragged along in her wake.

"Go hang back with Jaune," Sora said, beginning to grin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dispenser of the Dust he had bought. Yellow. He glanced over his shoulder at Ruby. "The wait's over."

Ruby stammered for a moment, not sure what he meant. Then it dawned on her. "We'll go handle Jaune," she agreed, grabbing Ren and a protesting Nora to go protect the unconscious swordsman.

"I was wondering when you'd try this again," the dark Keyblade Master laughed, swinging his Keyblade to his side and grinning cruelly.

"Why don't you come and get me before I can... if you're afraid," Sora taunted. He lowered his Keyblade to his side. "Just try it, come on. Free shot, no Keyblade to protect me."

"Don't move," Xehanort commanded.

"Sora! What are you doing?!" Ruby shouted.

"Oh, shut up, Old Man!" Cinder snarled. "He's an idiot boy. Kill him and we're done." She raised a fireball to her hand and loosed it at Sora.

"Gotcha," he said with a grin, and the light exploded around him, blinding everyone present. There was a scream of pain as the fireball bounced back and collided with Cinder.

"Now," Sora said as the light began to clear. Ruby stared in surprise when her sight fully returned. He was standing before her in different clothes – no the same clothes, just differently colored. His vest had turned a bright yellow, and his sweatshirt was now a deep black. His pants were mostly yellow, but it slowly faded in an ombre to black starting at the mid thigh. Silvery crosses dotted the black, increasing in number as the black darkened. The yellow and black on his shoes had switched, so they too were more yellow than black.

But the biggest change was his two Keyblades. In his right hand was a mostly silver one, built much more like a sword. The basket was a charcoal pentagon and the outer edge of the blade was gunmetal gray. The teeth was a fleur de lis and the tip of the weapon was a screaming lion. In his left, a more simple red sword. The hilt was an angry, fish like face that turned into a deep red blade. Three spikes flared out from the back. The basket looked like the feet or maybe the body of the creature on the hilt. "Now," Sora said again, "you woke the Sleeping Lion. Let's see if you can deal with my Guardian Soul." He groaned. "Okay, um... let me try that again. You... I -"

"Wait, are those the Keyblades' names?" Ruby asked, earning a sheepish grin from Sora. "Well, that was a bad pun."

"Now, all of you attack at once," Xehanort commanded. He was tired with the inane proceedings. He began raising his Keyblade to attack once again. "I've been waiting to analyze this special skill of yours again, Sora."


	6. The Seeker of Light and the Silver Eyes

**AN: Hey again everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the fights in the last chapter, because here comes its conclusion. These two chapters set up a lot for the later story, but only the slightest hints. I wonder if anyone will guess what I have planned.**

 **Keyslinger Roxas: Unfortunately for my favorite Nobody, I don't have any plans for Roxas in this story. He is awesome, I know, but I feel like since he was 'growing a Heart' by the time he fused with Sora, and Ansem said that Sora could somehow bring back people who don't exist anymore, Roxas might have his own body and stories to tell apart from Sora by now. While I do love Roxas, I don't know at the moment how to fit that in to where this is going. As for the** _ **Sixth Foreteller**_ **theory, I had never heard of it before you mentioned it, somehow. It actually fits in really nicely with some things I have planned that are central to the story, so you can bet it will show up eventually.**

 **Warrior of Six Blades: I'm glad that the first half of the fight entertained. I basically try to imagine the most over the top fight I can, then push it a little. I'm glad it's working so far. As for Cinder's mistake last chapter, I am aware it seemed a tad out of character for a schemer like her. Don't worry, she had a reason.**

 _ **Chapter 6: The Seeker of Light and the Silver Eyes**_

Sora grinned as the energy of his Drive Form began rolling off of his shoulders, filling the air with a faint yellow glow that jumped jaggedly around his body. The Guardian Soul Keyblade in his left hand was held in front of him, spinning in his open palm. Yellow electricity followed the two ends of the weapon as it twisted. In his right hand, the Sleeping Lion Keyblade shuddered as similar energy pulsed down its length. He grinned victoriously when he saw that none of Xehanort's partners had come after him yet. "Oh, come on. Where's all that big talk you were giving me a minute ago?" he asked, his gaze locking onto Cinder. Her face was full of the same serene anger as always, the only visible change to her form a black burn mark on her shoulder. Sora smiled at that spot where her attack had rebounded during his Drive Shift. No response came from the woman, and Sora laughed. "Really, nothing?"

Xehanort sighed at the caution of his partners, though he understood their reticence to attack the boy. He had already stood his ground against Xehanort himself, and now he was twice as powerful. Still, he was of no danger to the Keyblade Master himself; Xehanort scoffed, "You really believe you are capable of defeating all of us at the same time, Sora? You could barely hold up when you and Riku both were arrayed against me."

The Keyblade wielder grinned. "I _know_ I can defeat you, Xehanort," he retorted. He dashed towards Xehanort, and Ruby was astonished to see that Sora was moving like a lightning bolt, a hundred times faster than he'd been moving before the sudden shift. It didn't seem too fast for Xehanort, though, because his Keyblade came up to attack the incoming Keyblade wielder. The black Keyblade arced towards where Sora's head was going to be, ready to decapitate him effortlessly.

Then just like that, Sora disappeared, leaving nothing but a blur of black lines where he'd been a moment before. Xehanort's eyes widened in fear. "What in Dust!?" Mercury asked, watching as Sora disappeared. He looked around wildly, worry on his face. "I'm fast, but..."

"Yeah, you're definitely not this fast," a voice said behind him. Mercury spun, raising his leg to block the attack or to kill his attacker, but he just wasn't quick enough. The gunmetal Keyblade crashed into the silver speedster's shoulder and the massive force sent him tumbling through the forest with a resounding _crack,_ the shattering of a tree through which he flew. Sora's secondary Keyblade drifted to his side, almost as if it had a mind of its own, and caught a slash from Cinder's twin blades. Ruby's eyes widened as she saw the lightning run down the blade of the Keyblade again. The energy channeled through Cinder's weapons before she could do anything, and she was thrown back with the sound of thunder. She collided with the young man as he began to get up, and he slammed into the tree again. Cinder struggled to get up, but fell to one knee; Mercury slowly fell from the tree trunk and slammed face first into the ground. Then Sora twisted mid air, wrapping the incoming chains of Emerald's weapons around his wrist. "Thunder!" The energy ran down her chains and she screamed as Sora continued spinning, crashing Sleeping Lion into Xehanort's Keyblade and throwing the woman away, again crashing into the other two and creating a pile of bad guys.

"Impressive!" Xehanort complimented as he struggled against the young Keyblade Master's weapon. Sora's secondary weapon collided with Xehanort's too, driving the old man back a half step. "You're almost there! Almost a Master! If you would give in to Darkness... then you could be a real master of the Keyblade!"

"Thanks, but no thanks," Sora said, grinning wildly. He flipped over Xehanort and his Keyblades spun around him in perpendicular circles, covered with fire. He forced himself to fly downwards, trying to burn his opponent from above. Xehanort swiftly dashed backwards to effortlessly avoid the blow. "I've beaten you tons of times, so why would I give up?"

"Defeated me? Ha!" Xehanort snorted as he regained his footing. He scoffed again and rushed towards Sora, the two of them moving even faster than they had during their earlier battle. It was like Sora's sudden power up had reinvigorated the old man, drawing out his own reserves of power just as much as the boy's. "You barely survived with the aid of a half dozen true Keyblade Masters and the strength of Yen Sid at your back. Your masters are truly failures if you believe that you are as powerful as you could become. Or liars, perhaps."

"Like I've said, even if I'm not strong enough, my friends make me strong," Sora retorted. He shot a ring of Firaga at the old Keyblade Master. He raised his Keyblade and spun it in a circle, leaving behind a trail of Darkness. The wispy circle seemed to solidify into a ring of black stone, and it flew forward. It collided with the fire, causing a massive explosion. Smoke filled the area between Sora and his enemy. Suddenly, the old man jumped through the smog, slashing his Keyblade down at Sora's left shoulder. Sora raised his offhand Keyblade and it spun around into a red blur, like a saw bringing a shower of sparks against Xehanort's weapon. Sora shoved off of this point of contact and stabbed forward with his other Keyblade. The old man moved to dodge, but Sora was prepared. A flash of white light later, and Xehanort was driven back a step, his chest covered with ice.

Sora grinned at the fallen Keyblade Master. "In fact, I'd say you're starting to show your age, Xehanort," he taunted as he tensed his legs. He jumped forward and moved to attack the old man once more.

"It is called experience, boy," Xehanort retorted, launching forward the same as his opponent. The air exploded as the two met halfway, the full force of their attacks sending the pine needles on the surrounding trees suddenly disappearing in the powerful wind. "Something a child like you embarrassingly lacks."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Cinder was enraptured. Throughout her entire life, she had been searching for power. The power to undo anything, to destroy whatever crossed her path. She had driven herself to master every form of combat of which she was capable. When that knowledge had exhausted itself, she had decided to follow the path of intense study of Dust and its uses, granting her immense control over the substance and its almost magical abilities. Then she had finally learned of the powers of the Maidens, and thought it would be the most power she could achieve. She could remake Destiny with that power. Remake all of Remnant and become more. She finally had the strength to stand against any.

And then she had met the girl in the red hood. For all intents and purposes, a completely normal girl. A slightly insane one. But just a normal girl. Certainly nothing special when compared with the skill of the Nikos girl, the raw power of her blonde sister, the resources of the Schnee child, nor with the sordid past of the Faunus girl. She was nothing. And then Cinder had killed the Nikos girl, the one that they had attempted to give the powers of the maiden, and that silly little child had become something else entirely. Cinder knew it was foolish at that point, but she had expected the last of the Silver Eyed warriors to have died more than a decade earlier. Their power, though rarely capable of being controlled, was far beyond that of any single Maiden in terms of raw, unrestrained power. Magic, one could say.

But this..? These Keyblades were a step beyond even the skills of the Maidens. Should she obtain one – or two, as the boy demonstrated – she would be virtually indestructible. Combined with the power of the Maiden of Autumn, her workings of Dust, and her incredible swordplay, there was no limit to what she could achieve. Xehanort, the boy... Salem, perhaps? They would all be nothing beside her strength.

"Good job, Cindy," Mercury hissed from beside her, bringing her iresome stare full force down upon the boy. "You had me going, thinking you were smart. Anyone could have seen that was a trap. He basically told us!"

"Of course it was," Cinder replied, glaring at Mercury with enough anger to melt steel. She returned her gaze to the battle and watched the two combatants move like beams of Light and Darkness, neither succeeding in outclassing the other's speed. "That boy is too honest for things like traps."

"Then why'd you attack him like an idiot!?" Mercury snapped.

Cinder's eye began to glow as she turned her stare back on the boy. Fire tingled beneath her palm. "Do you wish to rephrase that?" she asked, her words stilted.

Mercury gulped. "W-what are you planning?" he asked eventually.

Cinder continued to glare at him. "I needed to see," she finally replied. She gestured at Sora, who was busy trading innumerable blows with Xehanort. "That boy's power. Xehanort's power. I needed to know just how strong they were."

"I told you she had a reason," Emerald growled at Mercury from Cinder's other side. Cinder glanced over at the girl, who frowned. "But why?"

"Why else?" Cinder asked. She began to stare at the weapons in Sora's hands. "We're going to find a way to take one."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora laughed and threw both of his keyblades, spinning them telekinetically as they collided with Xehanort's. Sparks flew everywhere, the unbreakable weapons trying to destroy one another, until Sora dashed behind Xehanort. He summoned the Sleeping Lion back to his main hand and slashed at Xehanort's head again. The man snapped in pain as the weapon collided with his head and he was sent into the ground. Sora summoned the other Keyblade back to his hand and jumped into the air, ready to bring both blades down on Xehanort and end it. "Enough!" Xehanort screamed.

Sora grunted in pain as he was thrown back by an explosion of Dark power, the black energy shooting up from the now standing Xehanort and into the sky. The man growled and raised his left hand, causing a familiar creature to appear at his heels. Sora's eyes widened as he saw something he thought had died – Ansem's Shadow. The creature was a grotesque monster, an incredibly bandaged being of pure Darkness. An empty hole in the shape of a heart was in the center of its chest. It's eyes were an evil yellow, and its head had its own cruel looking crown shape; its face was a permanent, evil grin. Sora was... scared, just a little. Still, he played it off. "I knew you were holding out on me," Sora said, narrowing his eyes. It didn't matter what Xehanort began throwing at him – Sora would be able to take it and then some. "Bring it on, Xehanort!"

"Oh, I will," the old man said. He grinned, and the Shadow disappeared. Sora's eyes widened, and he dashed to the side, barely dodging the huge claw that had erupted from the ground where he had stood. "I must say, some part of me is sad you are about to die. I see so much of myself in you. Of course, perhaps you will surprise me."

"I've made a living on that," Sora retorted, rolling to his feet. A vortex of inky blackness appeared beneath his feet, and he jumped to the side again, the Shadow's attack instead obliterating the tree branches above where he had stood. Sora jumped towards Xehanort, waiting for the inevitable attack from the shadow. Xehanort's hand dashed towards Sora, and the young man grinned. He spun the Keyblades around his body and cast a Sparkga, creating a wall of light around him just as the Shadow appeared. It crashed into the light and screamed, the energy burning it and forcing it to return to its master's side. The magic around Sora disappeared and he brought his Keyblades down on Xehanort's with enough force that the man brought both hands onto his own weapon to resist him. "I've always stopped you before."

"So you keep saying," Xehanort growled. He angled his weapon and Sora's Keyblades slid down its length, letting the man twist around Sora's defense and slash at Sora from behind with the Dark Keyblade. At Sora's front, Xehanort directed his Shadow to attack once again, aiming to capture the boy so that Xehanort could finally deliver the last blow. Sora responded to this attack by spinning to face Xehanort and raising his blades to either side, catching both the attacks. Sora then jumped, holding himself up on the attacks, and delivered a heavy drop kick to Xehanort's chest. Sora flipped midair to land on his feet while the Shadow and its master flew back, rushing towards a tree. Just before they crashed, however, the shadow melted away and a portal of Darkness appeared in the trunk of the tree. Xehanort disappeared into the blackness and reappeared moments later behind Sora. He gripped the boy's throat and tossed him into the air. "But I don't see it that way." He brought his Keyblade around with both hands and the blow collided in the center of Sora's back, sending him tumbling through the forest. Tree trunk after tree trunk shattered from the force of the blows and Sora disappeared into the shadows of the forest.

"Then how do you see it?" Sora asked as the last crash's echo died away. Xehanort smirked and closed his eyes, knowing that his Shadow would alert him should anything actually put him in danger. He was slightly surprised when it did, a moment later. Sora was speeding out of the shadows, Keyblades held side by side. He swung them forward, aiming them at Xehanort, and twin balls of energy began to charge at the ends of the two weapons, light being drawn in from Sora's heart and the light of Remnant's Heart. Eventually, the growing events of energy began to pull at each other until the spheres of light eventually merged into one much larger orb of energy. Xehanort even looked a little worried when he saw what was happening. Still, though, Sora didn't release the attack, instead opting to get even closer to his opponent.

Xehanort leveled his Keyblade at Sora and his Shadow grew over his shoulders. It placed its hands around the tip of its master's weapon and Darkness began to pulse from it, forming a nascent blast around the tip of the weapon much as Sora was doing with the light. The air seemed to grow colder in that forest, and the snow that had not melted from the fires of the battle began to sparkle less in the sunlight as the power of the Shadow Ball grew and grew. "Everything you have done so far has only secured the destruction of everyone and everything you have ever loved," Xehanort responded. His face split into an evil smile, and he let the explosion of energy on the end of his Keyblade go just as Sora did the same. The black ball of Darkness flew towards Sora, trailing an aura of evil. Sora's projectile left the space behind it brighter and warmer.

Ruby gasped as Sora appeared next to her and the others, Keyblades spinning in front of his outstretched hands. "Reflect!" he shouted as the orbs neared each other. The wall of energy shot up around them, barely erected in time to take the full force of a massive explosion of energy. Sora grunted in exertion, struggling to keep his arms up and the wall of magic from falling. The world outside of the wall was gone, blocked out by the clashing energies of Light and Darkness that swirled around, creating a void of nothingness. Sora gasped in pain, but continued standing, keeping the wall up. He wasn't going to let it fall, even while the yellow energy pouring from his body began to falter. His clothes flashed to their original colors for a moment. He was about to reach his limit.

Then, just as the void faded and the world returned, Sora fell to his knees. His clothes flashed with the same bright light as before, and the yellow faded away, leaving Sora in his normal clothes. The wall disappeared, and the group was left to gaze out at the crater surrounding them. They stood on the only remaining patch of grass, suspended on the stone which it had sat just moments before. Neither Cinder, Xehanort, nor any of the others were anywhere to be seen. "I guess I won," Sora said, tossing a grin over his shoulder at the others. They stared in shock at the young man, until the still unconscious Jaune began to top sideways, the tree holding him up now long gone, and crashed to the ground.

Sora slowly, shakily stood up and grinned over the crater. "I won!"

"No, you did not," a sinister voice replied. A portal of Darkness appeared at the epicenter of the crater, and four figures walked slowly out. Cinder, Mercury, then Emerald. Finally, Xehanort walked into view, the portal drifting shut behind him. No longer was his Shadow visible, but he looked more confident than ever. He was grinning like a maniac. "You have never defeated me, though you did impress me. You show promise, Sora; if this were another life, perhaps you would not have to die."

Sora narrowed his eyes angrily and summoned the Kingdom Key back to his hand. Ruby wanted nothing more than to help Sora, but she felt something that she hadn't felt before, especially not in a battle, no matter against whom the fight had been. She felt completely, horribly, by a mile, outclassed. She took a deep, worried breath, and stared at Sora. Her mind flashed back to one of their conversations with Sora. He had said that their week so far had been calm and easy. When she saw Xehanort, she began to understand just what he meant. He fought people like Xehanort on a daily basis? "Sora..." Ruby muttered, worried about him. He was panting heavily, body shuddering with every intake of air. He looked like he couldn't take a lot more fighting.

"Ruby," Sora said hoarsely. "I can hold them off while you three get Jaune out of here."

Ruby looked back up at him in surprise. "But you'd -"

Sora didn't respond in denial or affirmation. Ruby furrowed her brow and looked over at Nora and Ren. "Get him out of here," she told them, gesturing at Jaune. She stood up and walked up to stand beside Sora, twirling her weapon. She slammed the blade into the ground and pulled, overextending the blade, then spun the weapon around and held it at the ready across her back. "We'll handle things until you get away."

"Ruby, I'm not going to let my friends -"

"We'll both get out of here," she interjected. Sora just stared at her in wonder.

Then he remembered what he believed most of all – his friends _are_ his power. "Glad to have you by my side," Sora grinned, then turned back to stare at the waiting Xehanort. "We're only distracting them, then we run."

"Deal," Ruby said, smiling back at the Keyblade wielder. She held out her scythe and gestured. Sora looked at it, confused for a moment, then grinned. He grabbed onto the handle and jumped onto the blade, at which point she fired off a shot and began spinning, then firing off another shot. As she stopped, Sora jumped with the motion of the scythe and shot off like a rocket at Xehanort and Cinder. Ruby shot one last glare at her other friends. "Go!"

Sora laughed as he flew through the air, faster than he ever had before. This was going to be a massive hit. He turned to aim his Keyblade behind him and shot off a Firaga, increasing his speed even further. He brought the Kingdom Key around with the blast of another Firaga, and crashed into Xehanort.

The blow was finally the one that had enough force to send Xehanort flying backwards, tumbling over the lip of the crater and giving Sora and Ruby breathing room to deal with the other three while Ren and Nora got Jaune away from the battlefield. Sora raised his Keyblade in time to block the incoming blow of Mercury's leg, shattering the Silver Dust bullet against the Kingdom Key's blade. Since he was still midair, however, Sora flew back until righting himself and skidding across the surface of the crater. He raised his Keyblade to block Cinder's next attack, and soon found himself being glared down at by the woman with manic, hungry eyes. "How do you get one?" she asked, pressing down to prevent Sora from standing. If he weren't tired so tired, he would have already thrown her off. As it was, he was barely able to keep her at bay.

"What?" he asked, grunting. He fell to one knee to continue fighting against her. "What do you mean?"

"How do you obtain a Keyblade!" the woman snapped, lifting her blade and snap kicking Sora across the face. He stumbled backwards, spinning once before bringing his Keyblade up to take the next attack, deflecting it away with a move that caused his entire aching body to protest. He wished he could cast a Curaga to heal himself, but that would have only tired him out more by that point. It healed injuries, not the natural wear of a body. He'd already healed those after being thrown into the forest by Xehanort. Now, he was just tired. "Tell me now!"

"If you don't have one," Sora responded, deflecting another blow, "it's because your Heart isn't strong."

"Nonsense," Cinder growled, dismissing the boy's assertions. She jumped, stepping on his face to kick his head and flip away. As she soared above him, she tossed two fireballs at Sora. He shook his head from the force of her kick, then saw the fireballs. He looked down and grinned, easily batting the projectiles away to collide with Mercury and Emerald. They didn't dodge, distracted as they were with Ruby, and tumbled a short distance away. Ruby jumped after them while they were still off balance.

Sora dashed to where Cinder was going to land and swung, only to hit empty air as she shot flames from the soles of her feet and landed behind him. He continued with his blow and blocked her back stab. He groaned against the force of her attack, but nevertheless put one foot in front of the other to shove her back. He couldn't fail, no matter how much he hurt, when Ren, Nora, and Jaune were counting on him. Not to mention Ruby, who was busy fighting a two on one battle. He roared and pushed again, tossing Cinder away. "Keyblades choose their Masters based on how strong their Hearts are," Sora explained. He rushed after her with his Keyblade raised beside his head, both hands on the handle. He swung at her head as she landed, but she let her legs give and she continued to slide backwards on her back, rolling to her feet as she slowed. "If you don't have one, your Heart isn't strong enough!"

"Then how did you obtain one?" Cinder snapped, blasting a tornado at Sora. He grunted and was thrown back as it collided with him, spinning away to slide across the ground. Cinder jumped into the air, fire streaming from her feet. "I'll just kill you and take it, then!" She angled her feet, and fired off after Sora, ready for blood.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby ducked beneath Mercury's blow and quickly spun her scythe up. She caught his leg in the crook of the weapon and spun on her heel, tossing the silver haired boy at his green haired partner. "Why would you do all this!?" Ruby shouted at them, dashing from side to side to avoid the fire of the two. She was moving more quickly than she ever had; she'd grown stronger in the past months. "I thought you were my friends!"

"Friends?" Emerald chuckled, twirling her weapons back to sickle form and running towards her opponent. Her green sickles flashed as she brought them down, but Ruby spun around them, scythe on her shoulders, and knocked the girl off her feet with the handle of the weapon. Ruby continued spinning until the muzzle was pointed away from Mercury, then fired. She shot towards him, slashing at him before he could get a shot off. Her attack collided with his leg, slicing through his clothes to reveal his prosthetic limbs.

"We couldn't stand you Little Red," Mercuy sneered, snapping his defense out and causing the young woman to flip over. She tossed her weapon at him like a helicopter blade, the scythe turning into a red and black blur that flew towards him. He lashed out with his leg, hitting the rapidly twisting handle and sending back at Ruby. She caught it and used the momentum to swing her weapon down with as much force as she could muster. Mercury's eyes widened and he jumped back to avoid the blow, betting an attack with the full force of his kick and Red's oddly disproportional strength would be enough to damage even his legs. Her crazy bimbo of a sister had managed, after all.

Emerald snorted as she rushed in to attack Ruby. The scythe wielder turned into a vortex of red, and both she and her scythe were suddenly gone. Emerald smirked and taunted the younger girl, turning towards where she had disappeared, "Yeah, every grating moment, it was just, 'Oh, let's be best friends. We can paint our nails, and try out clothes, and talk about cute boys -'"

"Oh, you'd talk to her about me?" Emerald jabbed at his partner.

"Mercury!" Emerald hissed, raising one of her weapons in a mock attack of the man. He shrugged in enjoyment of her anger and gestured with one hand at Ruby again. She was firing her gun off, approaching the two at break neck speed. "When this is over..."

"Your voice says I hate you," Mercury said, grabbing her arm. "But your clammy arm..." Emerald just growled. Mercury grinned at that and jumped, using the guns in his boots to give himself more liftoff. He spun and tossed Emerald at the place where Ruby would be in a moment. He laughed as she soared downward, slashing at Red.

Ruby had to stop in place, slashing into the air. The attack collided with Emerald's side, catching her. Ruby overextended the blade on Emerald's aura-enhanced body, and fired off the rifle again. She tossed the former thief, which caused the green haired ninja to slam into the ground. From there, Ruby jumped onto her back, catching the woman by surprise, and then jumped into the air, slamming the base of her scythe into the falling Mercury's temple. He tumbled, stunned, and slammed spread eagle into the ground. Ruby fell, and landed on Emerald's back again, then glanced down and said completely earnestly, "You two really do make a good couple."

"We. Aren't. A. COUPLE!" Emerald snapped, placing her palms on the ground and trying to stand. Ruby just shrugged and lashed out at her head, knocking the terrorist out. She glanced up to see Sora deflect another fireball from Cinder's hands. He jumped and raised his Keyblade above him before slamming it into her midsection. She hit the ground and the stone cracked where she landed. Sora drifted lazily to the ground, exercising his ability to glide slightly and hitting the ground with a quiet thud.

"Did we just... win?" Ruby asked, looking around in disbelief. She laughed and looked up. Ren, Nora, and Jaune were long gone and now waiting for Sora and Ruby to catch up with them. She looked over at Sora and smiled. "We won."

"We won!" Sora muttered in surprise. He looked up. "We -"

He was cut off by a black and silver Keyblade slamming into his side. "I think they did rather impressively," Xehanort said, stepping out of the portal of Darkness as Sora slid face down across the ground. The old man placed his Keyblade blade down on the ground in front of him and rested his hands on the base. "They certainly stood up longer than I believed they would against someone of your caliber, my dear boy. This Cinder woman... she's impressive, isn't she?"

Ruby moved as quickly as she could, firing off a flurry of dust bullets at the old man. He just lazily deflected the attacks, twisting his Keyblade so that the projectiles were sent wide by the teeth of the blade. He frowned and glanced over at the young woman, narrowing his gleaming yellow eyes. "You... seem familiar to me. Why is that?" he asked, brow furrowed. He lowered his blade to his side and walked towards the young woman. She narrowed her eyes and fired off another volley of bullets, each one true to mark and aimed directly between the man's eyes. He raised his hand and let the fire bounce off of the magic in his palm, each blow bringing a corresponding flash as the energy laden projectile ricocheted away from him. "Who are you?"

"Ruby!" Sora snapped, running towards Xehanort from the back. He slashed at Xehanort, and the man turned around to easily block the exhausted boy's attack, sliding his blade against Sora's to get closer. Finally, he grabbed the young man's wrist and twisted. Sora screamed in pain as he heard a loud _crack_ , and the Keyblade fell from his injured hand. He summoned it to his other hand and brought it down. Xehanort moved to block the attack and break Sora's other wrist, but the boy stopped suddenly and jumped backwards. Green light flashed around him, and his wrist snapped back into place.

Ruby, meanwhile, had jumped away from Xehanort, firing her gun at him from behind as she did. She saw how bad things were about to get, and she had promised Sora that she'd run if it became necessary. They both had. And from where she stood, with Sora exhausted of all his energy and Ruby faced with the prospect of dueling with Xehanort, it was rapidly becoming necessary to run like there was no chance at victory. However...

"Oh, where do you think you're running, Girl?" a voice inquired behind and above her. She turned midair, swinging her scythe at the skull of the dark man taunting her. He laughed and caught the handle of the weapon as it came near. He spun midair, dragging Ruby behind him. When he finally let go, Ruby suddenly found herself bouncing as she hit the ground, then again being slammed into the stone by the weight of the old man on the middle of her back. "Ruby... why do you seem so familiar?"

Ruby could only groan in reply, trying to force herself to her feet. Xehanort merely moved one of his feet to the back of her throat and slammed her face back into the stone. "Get away from her!" Ruby heard Sora shout. His footsteps thudded as he approached, and there was a huge _clang_ as his Keyblade met Xehanort's once again. The blow was just hard enough that the man took a step back, giving Ruby all the leverage she needed to push herself up and shove the man off of her. He didn't even stumble, instead just stepping back fluidly.

"Sora, is that rage I hear in your voice?" he asked the young man, smiling condescendingly. "Hate? And here I thought you weren't capable of touching the Darkness." Xehanort effortlessly deflected the next stab from the young Keyblade wielder, sending his weapon crashing into the slash that Ruby had sent his way. He then flipped over the two children, slashing his Keyblade as he was above them and knocking them both to the side. "But if you can, give it all to me."

"I won't let you hurt my friends," Sora said, recovering and raising his Keyblade in front of himself. He stepped between Xehanort and Ruby, eyes narrowed.

Xehanort stopped and cocked his head to the side. Then the puzzle clicked. "Oh! Ohhh..." Xehanort muttered excitedly. He cackled for a moment and let his eyes rest on the young woman who was forcing herself to her feet behind Sora. "I see it now. Yes!"

"What are you muttering about?" Sora growled, not moving from where he stood. He shifted his legs slightly and leveled his weapon at the old man. He jumped forward, aiming a blow at Xehanort's head. The old man just leaned ever so slightly to the side, keeping his gaze locked on Ruby. Sora growled in frustration and swept the Kingdom Key to the side to bisect the old man. His Keyblade was met in an instant by Xehanorts. "Tell me!"

Xehanort sighed then turned his attention from the young woman and back to Sora. "And why would I do that?" Xehanort asked. He chuckled and glanced over at Ruby. "I'll be with you in a moment." Then he flicked his wrist and Sora stumbled back. "I just have to deal with a pest for a moment."

He dashed after the boy, grinning maniacally. "You know, it's going to be nice to finally be done with you," Xehanort noted as he slammed through Sora's defense, breaking Sora's grasp on his weapon. "You show far too much promise for one who follows the light so blindly." He brought his knee up into Sora's face, breaking the boy's nose. "I just -" He brought his Keyblade down on Sora's back, and the young man hit the ground with a thud. "- despise -" He slammed the Keyblade down on the prone Sora again, and the young man screamed in pain. "- you damn -" He kicked Sora in the side, flipping the boy as he did. "- children."

Xehanort grabbed Sora by the throat and and slammed his head into the ground, then lifted him again and did it again. "Sora!" Ruby shouted. Xehanort turned and shook his head, firing off a Stop spell at the girl and freezing her.

"Don't... touch her," Sora wheezed, raising his hands weakly to clutch at the fingers wrapped tight around his throat. He weakly pulled at them to try and pry them off.

"Oh, you're still alive!" Xehanort noted with surprise. He scoffed and smiled at the battered and bleeding Keyblade wielder clutched in his off hand. "This is why I hate you. You just won't die when it's your time. You keep coming back for your _friends_. You, Terra, Aqua, Ventus – ah, Ventus!"

Sora didn't quite register what the old man was saying. He still spoke about the young woman with the scythe. "Leave them... alone," he demanded. Blackness encroached for a moment on his vision.

Xehanort laughed and slammed Sora into the ground again, the boy's body letting loose the noise of a thundering _crack_. Sora wheezed, trying to breathe in at all as Xehanort smiled. "Ventus. Yes, you are so like my wayward apprentice. So I how about I use that to my advantage, Sora?"

"Go... to hell," Sora groaned, weakly raising his hand to try and summon the Kingdom Key. The weapon arrived in a flash of light; Sora's grip on the weapon was shaky, and it shivered weakly in the air.

"That's impressive," Xehanort admitted, as he lowered the teeth of his Keyblade to Sora's chest. He grabbed the Kingdom Key and tore it from Sora's hands with his free arm. He tossed the weapon away and smiled down at the boy. "It only proves that this will likely work. I hope you are finally ready to die, Sora. It has truly been far too long." His Keyblade began to glow ominously above Sora's chest.

"NO!" Ruby screamed. Xehanort turned, one eyebrow raised, and was hit full force by a wall of pure, silver Light.

"Ruby..?" Sora groaned as the white filled his vision, the world disappearing. Then he blacked out and the beautiful Light disappeared along with consciousness.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora woke up and groaned, a dull ache running through his entire body. Though, not quite the intense pain he'd expected after his fight with Xehanort. Had that silver Light healed him, or was it something else? Regardless of which, he had trouble forcing himself to sit up and open his eyes. He was in his tent, light leaking in through the fabric. He clutched at the dull throbbing in his head caused by the dim light and decided to lie back down and shut his eyes again. "Ow," he groaned, and pulled his sleeping bag up over his eyes to block everything out. It didn't stop the pain in his head, though. Voices picked up outside of his tent and he shook his head as he realized what was coming. "No..."

The entrance to the tent flew open, flooding the enclosed space with bright light. He placed his hands over his eyes to block the light out even more and groaned. "You're awake!" Ruby shouted. Sora groaned again – sound hurt almost as much as bright lights did right then. He felt a body land on top of his own.

"Oomph!" He groaned in pain. Then another. He groaned again. Then another. He couldn't breathe at that point. And then Nora, still with her hammer strapped to her back, decided to jump right on top of the pile. Sora's entire body flared up in misery; he made a noise somewhere between a groan and choking. "Hg-lrk!"

"We're glad your okay!" Ruby groaned from beneath the pile, Magnihild's weight crushing her just as much as it was Sora.

"Tkkr-l!" Sora said, slamming his arm into the ground as his vision began to tunnel.

Ruby understood. "Nora!" she croaked.

"Huh?" the ginger powerhouse asked. She looked down at the reddening faces of the four beneath her and grinned sheepishly. She pushed herself off of them, eliciting a collective groan as she pushed them down, and a collective sigh of relief as she hit the ground and the weight of her weapon left them. "Oops! Sorry!"

"Guys! Still crushing me!" Sora told the other three, and they slowly began piling off of him. He hissed and sat up with them, gingerly rubbing his neck. "A-a-a-ow..."

Ruby glanced around at the cramped quarters. "Maybe we should take this outside?" she asked.

"Good idea," Sora said, opening one eye to match gazes with Ruby. She looked worried as she stared at him. So he grinned disarmingly, the infectious nature of his grin causing her to smile back. "I'm fine. Come on, let's talk. Maybe eat? I'm starving!" He pushed himself out of his sleeping bag, ignoring the creaking in his body as he did, and exited the tent. They were situated at the center of a clearing in the woods, obviously far from the battlefield where he had crossed blades with Xehanort and his minions again. The Keyblade was laying against a tree trunk near his tent. Sora walked over to pick it up, then dismissed it. He turned around, and saw that everyone was sitting together at the center of the camp, weapons on the ground beside them. There was food being passed around, so Sora – whose stomach was rumbling like thunder – happily took a seat with them. He grabbed a chicken leg and began tearing into it.

They were all quiet for a while, appreciating that they had survived that fight at all. Finally Sora sighed and looked up at them. "So, I'm guessing you all have questions," he said with a frown. He looked over at Ruby and furrowed his brow. "I have a few of my own." He let his gaze linger for a moment, then he looked around and smiled. "So... shoot."

Jaune was the first to speak up. "First of all... I'm sorry for attacking you," he muttered. He glanced at the ground, trying to hide his face from Sora. He looked back up at Sora's calm gaze, then returned his own to the ground yet again. "I don't know what happened. I just..."

"The Darkness in your heart," Sora replied, drawing their attention again. His hands were clasped in his lap and he was staring at the point where his thumbs crossed. "I don't know what it was that silver guy was saying to you, but it really got to you. You hated him, with the deepest part of your Heart. It wasn't about stopping someone, it was about taking power. Mercilessly destroying. When people let their inner Darkness take over, not many of them can keep controlling themselves. It happened to my friends before – Riku, Terra. M-me. It has a way of making you do things. Hurt your family, your friends. Kill them."

Sora shook his head. "I don't blame you. If this is about that Pyrrha girl, I get it. My friend Riku was the same way, once. He lost himself to the Darkness when someone we care about got hurt, when she almost died. You just can't let losing your friends change you, not when they'd want you to be a good person."

"Still, I -"

Sora shook his head. "No. Don't apologize again. Just don't let it happen again. Guard your heart, because I don't know if I could lock your Darkness away again. It's dangerous for even a Keyblade Master to interfere with a Heart like that; you're lucky I didn't accidentally kill you." He sighed and waited for Jaune to continue, to ask further on the topic, but no such line came. Sora continued, "Who's next?"

"Why did your clothes change?" Ren asked next, clasping his hands. "That ability... I didn't understand what happened."

"And how did you get _two_ Keyblades!?" Nora asked in excitement. "Most people can't get one, apparently, but you get to run around with two? Unfair."

"I'm not completely sure. Dust, whatever it _is_ , seems to unlock a power that I thought I'd lost," he explained. "I can unlock my full potential, what my Heart hides away. I don't know too much about it, honestly. I was never the one to understand the why of stuff like this.

"I understand the second Keyblade more, though," Sora continued. "My Heart... it helped someone else's. My Heart connects with those of other people really easily. I don't know why. But the Keyblade, it belonged to him." Sora shook his head from side to side. "Eh... kind of. Once he woke up, he got it back. But by then, my Heart just... could. I had two Keyblades still. Probably because my Keyblades... belong to other people."

"What does that mean?" Jaune asked.

"I don't know. Ven's Keyblade is the second one. The first one I had was Riku's. They just kind of drifted over to me," Sora explained He shrugged. "I was just the right person at the right time."

"What _is_ Xehanort?" Ruby asked, finally speaking up.

Sora shrugged again. "Bad. Really, really bad," Sora explained in fear. He shook his head and grimaced. "He's killed countless, and he's destroyed mi – many of lives. And he's more powerful than anyone I've ever met. That Shadow, the one that he used when fighting me? That was its weakest form. And now that he's here, he'll be working on the most dangerous thing he could. Getting a new body. He's done it before, stolen a body. If he gets a young body again with all of his knowledge and the strength of his heart... I don't know how strong he'd become then. He almost had the strength to take over the World more than once when he was already an old man, and I was only able to stop him with six other Keyblade Masters helping me."

Sora went quiet, then looked back at Ruby. "What did you do that sent him running?" he asked. "What was that silver light?"

"Wait, Ruby was the one who did that?" Jaune asked, confused.

Sora glanced between the nervous Ruby Rose and her friends. "You... didn't... tell them it was you?" Sora asked, raising one of his eyebrows in confusion. His eyes widened as it dawned on him. "This has happened before, hasn't it?"

"I do remember something similar happening at Beacon Tower, the night of..." Ren trailed off and glanced over at Jaune. He looked over to Ruby again. "That night. It was you?"

Ruby sighed and nodded. "Uncle Qrow didn't want me to tell anyone about it," Ruby said quietly. She looked around at the stunned faces of her partners. "And I don't know too much about it myself."

Sora raised an eyebrow. "Just what did Qrow say?" he asked, leaning forward to listen intently. Anything that could punch a hole in Xehanort's defenses and send him running away with his tail between his legs was something that Sora wanted to know more about. It reminded him vaguely of a spell he'd worked out with Donald and Goofy once – Trinity Limit, which could destroy almost anything with purifying Light magic. "What was that flash?"

A figure in the treeline narrowed his eyes. He had told Ruby to keep quiet about it, but he hadn't expected her abilities to show up quite this soon. Hell, it had been a fluke they'd shown up at all! If Nikos hadn't died right in front of her, Ruby probably would never have found out what she could do. But this time, all it had taken was the scary old guy _almost_ killing Sora? Qrow frowned and rubbed his stubble-covered chin. Did this mean Ruby was, somehow, learning how to control her Eyes? Would it come naturally to her? Qrow suddenly wished he'd pressed Summer for more information on this when she was alive.

The Huntsman shook his head to clear his thoughts and returned his attention to the still pensive Ruby. The chatterbox was being quiet again, which rarely happened. Qrow smiled softly, happy he hadn't interfered. The kids knew their limits now, even Sora. And especially Jaune.

Jaune. Whatever had come over him... Qrow made a mental note to pay close attention to him before leaving behind Ruby's group and flying directly to Haven. He didn't quite get the blonde boy, who acted like a harmless, ineffective, but good-natured goof ball half the time. One who apparently had a dark, murderous streak that would make him attack his friends.

Qrow gripped his scythe's handle. If it happened again, he'd have to get rid of the kid before he hurt Ruby. The Huntsman took a deep breath to calm himself, assuring his rampaging imagination that it was a fluke; Qrow released his weapon and returned to the form of his namesake before the kids could see him. He didn't exactly want Ruby chastising him for following her... again.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Xehanort stared down at the layer of pure magic that had encrusted around his arm, channeling Firaga through his palm to melt it. That Rose child, Ruby Rose, in the red hood was quite the interesting individual. He hadn't seen anyone save Cinder using magic on the Remnant thus far, so this other girl's sudden use of Light magic had been a thoroughly surprising and painful lesson. And one that only served to reinforce his hypothesis about who the girl was. As the last of the crystallized magic dripped off of his arm, shattering into a thousand sparks of energy as they hit the ground, he took the **χ** -blade from his back and tossed the weapon from hand to hand.

The children sent to collect Xehanort were nearby, sleeping off the effects of their one sided battle with Sora and the girl. He had cast a quick Cura over their bodies before letting them sleep off the effects; it wouldn't do to have dead pawns in the coming game. Especially when the pieces on the opposite end of the board were so powerful. He'd need to make them stronger before allowing them to interact with Sora and his allies again. He would have to teach them to harness the Darkness as a weapon. If they were successful, they would become exponentially more powerful and could, perhaps, stand against the forces of Light arrayed against them.

Of the three, Cinder of course held the most obvious potential for the powers of Darkness. It was obvious, in her eyes. Her entire life, from birth until that very moment, had been about creating and consuming power and the benefits that came with it. From her physical abilities to her control of Dust. Every movement was filled with a painful hunger for more power and control. Even how she acted with her followers, encouraging their fear and deference to her power. She had anger to spare, and Xehanort was more than ready to begin mining that vein.

Emerald was much the opposite. Despite her gruff exterior and facade of disgust for Mercury's antics, she wasn't much more than an obedient child. What she did, whatever Darkness she unleashed or committed, it was out of admiration for Cinder and her goals rather than any selfish desire for strength. The Darkest thing about Cinder's pet, in fact, was how far above others she believed herself to be. People besides her patron left her disinterested, dryly annoyed behind a mask of pleasantries and kindness. Except when it came to Mercury. In that case, the facade was the disgust and the truth was blushing and laughing inwardly at his antics. She hid it well, but few matters of the Heart could be hidden from a well trained Keyblade Master. All in all, she would do whatever she needed in order to help Cinder, including using the powers of Darkness.

Mercury was an interesting personality, all things considered. He was trained well, and was rather impulsive, prerequisites for the earlier stages of wielding the Darkness. Cinder had even said that the young man had murdered his father in a bloody, rage inspired duel. When asked, the young man was unrepentant, as if he had enjoyed the doing of the deed. It reminded Xehanort of himself, really, and how he had eventually massacred his own Master shortly after finding solace in the Darkness itself. Mercury showed good potential for battle, if it weren't for his lack of any and all seriousness. He cared little about taking power, nor what anyone thought of him. He instead acted upon his own hatred or in a desire to relieve his own boredom. He went along with Cinder's plans because it was a cure for boredom, and because he had suddenly found himself in the presence of someone for whose opinion he actually cared. Still, he could be taught.

And then there was Sora's friend. The blonde made every member of Cinder and her group seem like nothing, such was the depth of the Darkness residing in his incredibly strong Heart. Self loathing, his pure, utter hatred of Cinder. He desired nothing more and nothing less than complete and total vengeance. That was something that Xehanort understood deeply; hatred, resentment, and feelings of inadequacy in comparison with one's companions. He had played that card in the Hearts and souls of many, such as Terra and Riku. This boy was just another reflection of the Hearts that those two carried, a boy who wanted power to protect a friend. It was the easiest desire to pervert, love and friendship, because it was so strong. And Xehanort loved doing it.

"I know you're not asleep, Cinder," Xehanort finally said, turning to stare at the young woman's glowing, angry eyes. As he placed the **χ** -blade onto his back once more, he smiled at the young woman. The act sent a chill down even her spine. He gestured beside him. "Come. Speak your mind."

The young woman narrowed her eyes, but pushed herself to her feet. She was naturally cautious, only acting when it was necessary, such as when Xehanort and Sora had been posturing with each other, comparing Keyblade sizes. Still, she knew that Xehanort was at a level far beyond her; had he wished her ill, he would have let her die in the explosions of his battle with Sora... and then again in the power that _she_ had unleashed in defense of the boy. "What is the Keyblade?" she asked as she neared Xehanort, cautiously pressing at the edge of the issue.

The Seeker of Darkness found it delightful that she thought she could hide her deep desires for the power of the Keyblade from him. She believed he would feel threatened if she gained that power. In truth, he felt no such thing. Of all the Keyblade wielders he had ever met, Sora had been by far the most powerful – well, the second most powerful, he corrected himself. Anyways, of all the Keyblade wielders that he had ever fought, none had ever posed a real threat to Xehanort. A nuisance? Perhaps. A being uniquely able to destroy his plans? Definitely. But a real threat capable of killing him? No, never. Not even Sora.

The simple fact of the matter was that Cinder was incapable of using one. Her Heart contained much Darkness, but it was weak. She had no Strength of Heart, instead acting like a parasite upon the raw power of Salem's force of will. She did everything for power, but that was it. No end to her means, just power. She was charismatic, clever. But a servant blindly enacting her master's orders was still a servant. But he decided that she did not need to know that. "What do you believe it to be?" he asked cryptically.

"A weapon of power," she remarked, the constant hungry glint in her eyes. "Power enough to destroy Destiny."

"Destiny?" Xehanort asked. He laughed dryly and nodded. "Perhaps you may see it that way. But no, it is a weapon of Destiny. It makes choices, enacts its own Will in choosing its Master. Those who wield them are chosen because they escaped their lesser Destiny and grew to embrace a new one."

"It could not make one escape their fate?" she asked.

"If one could not escape their Destiny without it, they would never be chosen," Xehanort said dismissively. He smiled into the Darkness. While Cinder may not have been worthy of the Keyblade, he had already met two that perhaps filled the criteria of becoming Keyblade Wielders. And one of them could easily be molded. "But Darkness... that you can learn on your own."


	7. Dive

**AN: Wow, sorry this took so long. I've been super busy with tests and essays and interviews the past... what, month? Jeez, it was a long April. I hope it was good for everyone. Oh! May the Fourth be with you, for all you Star Wars fans. If you haven't read my Star Wars stories, I will advertise them here just in the spirit of the day. I like them, other people like them.**

 **As for this, I like this chapter. We're only a few chapters until we reach Haven, and that'll be fun. There's going to be a Huntsmen battling tournament when we get there, so leave some suggestions for OC entrants that Ruby, Sora, and the others to tangle with while they investigate.**

 **To Keyslinger Roxas: Yeah, I have also noticed I made Xehanort a little OP. That was an accident, but I try to retcon that a little in this chapter. Give it an explanation that was kind of in the back of my mind. I'd always thought he was going easy on Terra, fighting just enough to anger him. When he fought Aqua, Terra was keeping him from fighting at full strength. But I agree, I did make him a bit too much without a viable explanation. Flowmotion will probably show up.**

 **To Warrior of Six Blades: I agree, I wish that the decisions of the Keyblade were a little more concrete. Sora already has a stronger Heart than Lea, but he wasn't chosen naturally? It's weird, I agree. Maybe you have to want its power for some reason beyond the sake of power itself? Sora wanted to save his friends, Riku wanted to overcome his Darkness, Lea wants to save Isa and Roxas and Xion, and Xehanort wants to – he claims – balance Light and Dark. Maybe it's about wanting to change the World and having the Will to do it? All conjecture at this point, though.**

 ** _Chapter 7: Dive_**

Xehanort walked slowly along behind the three children who had been sent to find him and bring him to Salem, examining the peculiar vial of black, shifting Dust in the palm of his hand. Until such a time that he would be able to examine the substance in a laboratory, with tools for examination and recording, he could only produce conjecture about Black Dust. Given his high degree of intelligence, it would of course be an incredibly _educated_ guess, but the hypothesis would have no support until he could do more meaty experiments. That said, he had discovered much of interest since obtaining the Dust, especially in the aftermath of his battle with Sora.

Most importantly was how the material responded to the presence of his Keyblade. Whenever the old Keyblade Master channeled Darkness through his weapon, the Dust responded with a shiver and began to oscillate at the same frequency as the energy traveling down the Keyblade. Through that, the old man was able to control the material, finding he could keep it from fading from existence as it usually did when its host organism – the Grimm – perished. He was even able to shape it and control it, to an extent. When he rebuilt some of the machinery he had left behind in Radiant Garden oh so long ago, he'd be able to do so much more with the Black Dust. Perhaps the Heartless could walk upon the Remnant; they were superior weapons in a war against Light and a good distraction otherwise.

Of even more interest was how the **χ** -blade reacted to the Dust substance. The Darkness that the weapon had been trailing, leaking almost, since its blade was shattered seemed to seek out the Black Dust whenever it was outside of its vial. Seeing this, the old man had decided to take a quarter of his supply and leave it out in the presence of the **χ** -blade. The wisps of Darkness had coiled from the broken tip of the weapon and trailed down to the Black Dust. Moments later, the peculiar substance was gone and Xehanort had felt a wild surge of energy throughout his entire body. It occurred to him that this must have been similar to whatever it was that Sora had done during their battle, the pellet of Yellow Dust eliciting a reaction from within his Heart.

However, Xehanort was quick to notice that it was not _him_ that the Black Dust had strengthened; rather, the **χ** -blade itself had been reinvigorated. He had observed that, as the Dust had come into contact with the weapon, the **χ** -blade had created an aura of Dark energy simultaneous with Xehanort's own jump in energy. He had been incredibly pleased with that. Having the remains of the ancient weapon was already contributing to an increase in his own power, but coupled with this new development his next fight with Sora and his allies would be much different.

Sora... Xehanort had not expected the boy alone to be much of a problem. He had started off fighting the young man as he would have fought any Keyblade wielder who had yet to fully achieve the Mark of Mastery. He had assumed that the success of the boy in their previous battles lay with his uncanny ability to unite so many against him across the Worlds. The real threats had been the Mouse, Yen Sid, or Riku. Sora was an annoyance... or so he had thought. The boy's Heart was peculiar, healing Ventus' all those years before and then bringing Nobodies back into existence from Nothing. But again, Xehanort had assumed the greatest power Sora truly held was in bringing stronger warriors to the Fore. Yet it appeared this was not the case. He had not merely become the uniting link of the seven Keyblade Wielders united against Xehanort, but also, it would appear, the core of their fighting force. He was much closer to achieving his full potential than Xehanort had ever assumed he could without acting as one of his Vessels.

He cast a glance down at the children sent to collect him as they struggled to summon their Darkness. Grimm tossed them around like toys. He scoffed down at their tumbling forms; they'd have to succeed, or they'd die. "Try harder, children," Xehanort tossed out boredly before returning his attention to the weapon in his hand. "Wouldn't want you to end up six feet under."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora frowned as he spun his left arm in a circle, trying to stretch out the leftover pain from the fight. It hurt a little still when his arm was raised above his shoulder, and it wouldn't do to get into another terrible fight with the forces of Darkness when he wasn't at full strength. On top of that, he had to get a _lot_ stronger. He hadn't expected Xehanort to still be that strong. Maybe the **χ** -blade's shattered remains still had enough power in them to strengthen the fallen Keyblade Master. If that was the case, Sora would have to get a lot stronger before he could be completely comfortable in taking on Xehanort again.

But that wasn't what he was occupying himself with at the moment. For now, he had to worry about Jaune. During the fight, all it had taken was a few words from Mercury to send the Knight tumbling into the embrace of Darkness. Sora had been surprised at the sheer amount of it that had been present; for most people to give in that far to Darkness was the same as asking to become a Heartless. Maybe the people from Remnant were somehow incapable of becoming Heartless unless a Heartless was what devoured their Heart? Or maybe Jaune's Heart was just that strong. Jaune reminded Sora of Riku and Terra because of that. So, because of this, Sora had made a decision. Probably a bad one, or at the very least one that would make for a complicated and interesting adventure.

Sora looked out into the distance for a moment, his gaze locking on the town on the edge of the world's curve, nearly dipping beneath the horizon. They still had most of the money from taking down Junior, so they didn't need to work for their tickets. There were a few days left before their boat departed for Mistral, a cruise that they'd be stuck on for almost a month as it traveled to the various islands that dotted the ocean between the two continents. In fact, the boat was going to sail far south, nearly touching an island Ruby had called 'Menagerie' before looping up again. They'd actually stop just outside of their final location, Haven Academy. But before that, Sora had to keep the young Jaune Arc from accidentally falling into the Darkness once again when they were on an enclosed, floating space.

"And you're sure this won't hurt?" Jaune asked as he laid down on the grassy floor. Sora's gaze snapped back towards Jaune, and he stood hesitantly still. Finally, the Keyblade Wielder nodded a little too quickly. Jaune sighed. "Comforting."

"Ren, are you ready?" Sora asked, turning towards the quiet ninja.

"Skeptical at how possible this all is, but otherwise good to go," Ren replied slowly.

"Good," Sora said, summoning the Kingdom Key to his hand. He turned to Ruby and Nora, who both held their weapons at the ready. "We should wake up in a few hours at the most, but you won't be able to wake us until we've finished what we're doing."

"And what exactly _are_ we doing?" Jaune asked from the ground.

"Ugh, Jaune! Ren and Sora are going to turn into ghosts and enter your mind!" Nora shouted excitedly. "Duh!"

"N-Yes? Wait – No. We're going to enter your Heart," Sora corrected. "And not as ghosts. We're friends, so we're already in your Heart. With the Keyblade, we can jump in to help you out. We're going to try and help you come to terms with the Darkness in your Heart. You need to be able to control it or suppress it at the very least; you were too dangerous to your friends when you used the Darkness."

"How come that Xehanort guy could use it and stay in control?" Jaune asked.

"I don't really think he is," Ruby said, frowning at the ground. "When he was fighting Sora, it looked like he took real pleasure in making every hit hurt."

Sora nodded solemnly. "It's not only about winning to Xehanort," he said, brow furrowed. "It's about destroying them completely. The more he hurts someone, the crueler he is when beating them... the more he enjoys it. When the Darkness has a hold on you, it's like you want to hurt everyone around you. Especially your best friends."

Sora sighed and turned back to Jaune. He held the Keyblade out in front of him and motioned for Ren to grab hold of the handle as well. The ninja looked between Jaune, Sora, and the weapon for a moment, then nodded and placed his hand on the weapon. "Keep us safe, Nora," Ren told the pink hammer wielder with the hints of a smile on his face.

She snorted once. "Oh, you know I will silly," she said, a little flustered by it. She gestured, her face growing calmer. She smiled at Ren. "Go ahead. We'll be waiting for you."

"Right," Sora said, and the tip of the Keyblade began to glow above Jaune's chest. He smiled disarmingly down at the Knight. "Um... well, I'm excited to try this for the first time."

"Yeah, it's always good to learn new – Did you say first time?" Jaune asked. Then the light shot from the tip of the Keyblade. "I'm not sure if I'm comfortable -" He was cut off when the energy collided with his chest, and the world for Sora, Ren, and Jaune suddenly flashed into a brilliant white and everything disappeared.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Jaune blinked hard as the bright light slowly faded. He was still laying on his back. "Huh, you know, I didn't feel anything. Are you sure it worked?" he asked. The light slowly faded completely, and the only things that he could see was... nothing. The world was completely black above him. "And the bright light made me go blind."

"Or you just haven't stood up and looked around," Ren said, moving into Jaune's field of vision with one eyebrow raised. Sora followed suit quickly, hands behind his head and grinning down at the blonde. He and Ren both lowered a hand to Jaune, and together pulled him up to his feet. Jaune and Ren turned towards the Keyblade Wielder. "Where are we, Sora?"

"This is the Station of Serenity. It's the first Station of your Heart. People important to you will be on the ground at all of the stations." Sora explained.

"How many stations are there?" Jaune asked, walking around and staring at the stain glass designs beneath his feet.

"Five or so," Sora responded as he turned slowly and looked at the faces present on the station's ground. "Wow. That's a lot of blonde girls."

"Yeah, I have seven older sisters," Jaune explained dryly. "I don't think they fit the 'serene' theme." He looked around at each of the faces and frowned. "They're all very... Older sisters."

"I doubt having such a large family was that bad, Jaune," Ren remarked somewhat enviously. He walked along the edge of the platform before gazing down the edge.

Jaune also did a circuit, though along the circle connecting the frames containing the faces of his sisters. Sitting between them was a white shield with a rising sun of gold – Jaune's shield. "What are we looking for?"

"Um, I'd move towards the center of the circle a bit more, Jaune," Sora said, watching the Knight move in a circle.

"Why? Are pillars going to appear out of nowhere and make me – Oof!" Jaune fell backwards and landed on his back as three stone pillars appeared from the ground. He looked up at the closest one, where a sword floated in a circle of shimmering light. It was his sword, albeit shinier and purer as if it was brand new. "Um... will millions in Lien fall from the sky?" He looked around. "No? Dang." He turned around to look at the other two pillars. On top of one was his shield, also as unblemished as the day it was made. Finally, there was a gold and red weapon floating above the last one. "Pyrrha..."

Jaune shoved himself to his feet and stumbled towards the final pillar for a moment. His hand shot out to grab the weapon, quickly pulling it from the light. The light surrounding it disappeared, and the pillar that it had been hovering above faded away. Jaune barely noticed, cradling the red and gold weapons in his hands. Sora studied the weapon as it bobbed back and forth; it seemed to be some kind of spear. Most of the handle was gold, extending outward from a red, hand sized sword hilt. Given everything he'd seen so far, Sora was sure the javelin could transform into other weapons.

Sora's belief was confirmed when the blonde spun the weapon in his right hand, causing the golden extension to slide into the red. The blade extended slightly, forming a red and gold sword in his right hand. "Miló," Ren muttered when Jaune twirled the weapon again, causing it to extend into a rifle.

"What is that?" Sora asked Ren.

"Miló," Ren explained as Jaune spun the weapon to again turn Milo into a sword. "It was... it was Pyrrha's weapon."

"Oh," Sora muttered. His hands fell to his side and he shifted nervously. Pyrrha. All of Jaune's anger and hatred seemed to trace back to his late lady love. The Keyblade Wielder was suddenly worried about being present in Jaune's Heart. While connections with people could help hold one in the light, Death caused those connections to snap suddenly. They would reach out for the emptiness where the connection had once led, finding only Darkness. Overcoming that would be a difficult prospect for Jaune to accept. But he didn't need to overcome it, not completely. Every Heart had Darkness, and every person needed to come to terms with it. Or try, at least.

Jaune looked up nervously, his hand clutched around Miló's hilt. "So what happens next?" he asked before laughing nervously. "Is this all we came here for?"

"Um... no," Sora replied. He pointed at the other two pillars, both of which were beginning to dissolve. "These weapons are things that keep you safe. They represent parts of you – very important ones." Sora gestured at the sword in Jaune's hand. "Obviously the people who always made you feel the safest."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Jaune replied hollowly. He sighed and hefted the weapon onto his shoulder. "Grandpa's sword, Dad's shield... Pyrrha." Jaune grew silent and stared at the ground for a moment. He chuckled nervously and looked back up at Sora. "So what now?"

"Indeed. I also wonder what happens next in this... I don't really know what to call this place," Ren said, throwing his hands up at the emptiness surrounding them.

Sora grimaced and summoned the Keyblade to his hand as the shadows began to intensify beneath Jaune's feet. "Um... We fight," he explained. The shadows separated and began to accumulate in a circle around the three, congealing and growing like a cancerous mass.

"Do you care to explain what this is?" Ren asked in a worried tone, his twin guns raised apprehensively.

"Darkness," Sora muttered. He glanced over his other shoulder at Jaune, who held Pyrrha's weapon before him in both hands in sword form. "Some of yours."

"Oh," Jaune muttered worriedly. The circle of shadows began to pull themselves off of the ground, creating yellow eyed, ant like monsters swarming over one another. "That's... not good."

"The Darkness in all Hearts," Sora muttered, a flash of anger and recognition in his voice. He moved back until he was back to back to back with Ren and Jaune. "Heartless."

"You mean the monsters you used to fight?" Jaune asked nervously.

"Yeah," Sora replied as one of the closest lunged at him, yellow orbs glaring at him hungrily. He slammed the Keyblade into the creature's head, causing the Shadow to explode into a shower of shadowy wisps that floated away. "Be careful, they aren't like the Grimm – they've got their own powers." He slammed the Kingdom Key down on the next that jumped at him, destroying it too. From the corner of his eye he saw Ren firing a series of bullets into the wall of shadows, keeping most of them at bay.

"These are strong opponents," Ren muttered when one tried to claw through his throat. He barely brought his twin weapons up to cut through the Shadow and kill it.

"Be careful, they can turn into shadows," Sora said as he fired off a Firaga towards the mass of writhing Shadows. The resulting explosion burned away some of the Darkness, though most of the Shadows had already been melted to the floor. Those ones had avoided the attack. "And you can't hurt a shadow."

"Is there any other incredibly terrifying information we should know!?" Jaune snapped as he spun Miló into its javelin form to keep the Shadows further from him than its short sword form could. He impaled the next one to come at him and the jabbed the blade through the one behind it.

"Um... These are the weakest ones?" Sora suggested with a nervous chuckle.

"Just... just don't answer me next time I ask a question," Jaune suggested hoarsely.

"Agreed," Ren said simply.

"Heh," Sora chuckled as he deflected another Shadow. "So... this is only the first station."

"What did I just say?" Jaune shouted as he cut through another Shadow.

"You didn't _ask_ ," Sora retorted defensively, casting a Thundaga into the mass of Heartless. Dozens of the creatures shot into the air, scraps of their bodies floating away as they died. "I just said – no asking involved!"

"I might hate you," Jaune muttered.

"I confess, I _definitely_ do," Ren muttered dryly.

"Was that a joke!?" Sora asked, not even bothering to respond given that the stoic ninja had just cracked a sarcastic joke. "Hey – answer me!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby glared down the sights of Crescent Rose, carefully watching for any Grimm that may come running. Sora appeared to inexplicably draw the monsters towards him in surprising numbers. So far, they hadn't been attacked while they'd been in an inhabited area, only in the forest. Despite being so close to the harbor, Ruby wasn't sure if the Grimm would stay away. "Whatcha thinking about?" Nora asked from the other side of Sora, Jaune, and Ren.

Ruby shrugged. "Just keeping an eye out for Grimm," she replied. She heard a noise and turned to aim her gun at it, but sighed as a rabbit bounded across her field of vision. She sighed and let the tip of her weapon sag a little. Ruby ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "No, that's not true. I'm thinking about everything that happened with Xehanort and Cinder."

"Yeah, it was scary," Nora admitted, her feet shuffling across the ground as she remembered the fight. After that, the usually talkative and incredibly loud young Huntress had grown uncharacteristically silent. The events of their lives since Sora's arrival in the forest on Patch had grown increasingly dangerous, which said a _lot_ for that particular group of Huntsmen. It was enough to scare almost anyone.

Except Ruby. She'd always been extremely calm under pressure. Even the end of the world, terrifying murderer chasing you down kind of pressure. Xehanort was cause for worry, but at the end of the day every villain was afraid of the Light, and they always had been. "That's true," Ruby said regardless, willing to accept that most would rightly fear the man. "But I mean all that happened. Everything Sora and Xehanort can do... it's not normal."

"And magical silver eyes is?" Nora asked.

"Excuse me?" Ruby asked, turning around to stare, confused, at Nora.

The young woman chuckled and turned around. "Ruby, I understand you don't know anything about it either, but whatever it is you can do is able to do is crazy, too. Maybe its magic! Ooh! Pull a rabbit out of a hat!"

Ruby laughed and turned back to watch for Grimm. "I don't think it really works like that," she replied. "Maybe we should ask Sora about it; he can use magic too, after all."

"Is that _all_ you want to ask him about?" Nora asked in a teasing singsong.

Ruby's face turned the same color as her namesake. "I – N... Is it that obvious?"

"To anyone whose name doesn't rhyme with mine," the hammer wielder replied dryly. "You're acting like you're on your first real crush."

Ruby didn't respond, and the silence grew deeper. "Oh, right, I keep forgetting you're two years younger than us," Nora said, half-bemused as she did. "So... your first real life, in the person, non-celebrity crush. And it's someone who _literally_ fell out of the sky."

"Okay, yeah, I've heard it from my sister too many times," the scythe wielder responded. "'Ruby, friends – _and boys!_ – aren't just going to fall out of the sky!' Well, I showed her." She scoffed and crossed her arms in amusement.

"Yes. Yes you did," Nora admitted. She shrugged. "Though, it makes sense for you to meet boys who fall from the sky – you did make friends with Weiss by being thrown off of a cliff."

"Yes. Yes I did," Ruby muttered. She stuck the blade of her scythe into the ground and leaned against the weapon for a moment. "Of course, everything I've done has been almost as weird. A Dragon who lived inside of a mountain and a criminal with bad fashion sense traded out for swords shaped like keys and an old guy with bad fashion sense."

"Really?" Nora asked. "I thought the ice cream girl had flair!"

"Torchwick," Ruby continued.

"Oh... Yeah," Nora agreed, her hammer tapping against the ground for a moment. They remained quiet for a while. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"Sora?" Ruby asked. She shrugged and pulled up her hood. "Nothing. There's this girl on his island that he's in love with. Talks about how their destinies are connected forever by this star shaped fruit and how he held her heart or something."

"So it isn't serious?" Nora asked sarcastically.

"I get the feeling it's about as serious as you and Ren," Ruby replied.

"We're not – oh, never mind," Nora groaned, finally resigning herself to the fate of being constantly mistaken for being in a relationship with Ren.

"Oh, it's about as obvious as I am," Ruby shot with a grin.

"No it's not," Nora muttered too quickly. "You're about as obvious as you are!"

"That makes no sense," Ruby replied dryly.

"You make no sense!"

"Okay. Jeez," Ruby said, trying to calm the berserker. "Your secret is safe with me."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"There is no secret!" Ren hissed as the moved towards the floating stairs at the edge of the second Station, this one adorned with the emerald towers of Beacon with the assorted members of the staff lining the ring surrounding the image. Compared to the first Station, not much had happened there. Except for both Jaune and Sora pointing out that Ren obviously had a thing for Nora. The only thing related to Jaune's inner Darkness was his long since conquered fear of amounting to nothing in life, represented by Soldier like Heartless.

"If they're all as easy as this one – "

"The last one won't be," Sora interjected as he led the group across the floating pathway. He laughed at Jaune's groan. "But the others should! Don't worry, it's easy goings until we hit that one."

"What makes it so _not_ easy?"

Sora laughed nervously. "You face your deepest Darkness, and I have a feeling it's a fight we'll only be able to provide support for," Sora explained. He reached the next pillar and stepped onto the gold and white stained glass. He walked over to a trio of silhouettes over the center of the same rising sun insignia present on Jaune's shield, the three shadows arranged in a triangle. The one at the head was a woman in a long dress and with ornate, looping hair; her form was surrounded by an evil, bloody glow. The one to the left was glowing yellow, hair cascading down like a waterfall. The left arm from almost halfway down was outlined blood red. The last was different, the shape of a man with heavy armor sticking out from his shoulders; his form had only a sharp outline of silver instead of a glow, but it was brilliant anyways. Sora turned around as he neared the center of the pillar and raised his arms. "The Destination, the third of the five Stations. And the first of the group of three Stations of Calling."

"So these forms represent people with whom Jaune has yet to be fully connected?" Ren posited, one hand on his chin. "The destination of his Heart, then?"

Sora shrugged. "Huh. I guess that is why Master Yen Sid called it that," he muttered. Sora crossed his arms over his chest and grinned. "Yeah, let's go with that!"

"What's going to happen on this one?" Jaune asked as he looked between the three silhouettes. "Do you have any idea who these people could be?"

"Jaune, I have a feeling that your guess would be better than ours," Ren noted. "This is _your_ Heart after all."

"So you must have negative clues," Jaune muttered, placing his hand on top of the sword handle at his hip. He turned around towards Sora. "What's next?"

"We fight our way to the last Station – Awakening," Sora explained. He sighed as the Shadows began to erupt from the ground once again. "Well, here we go." He summoned the Keyblade to his hand and slashed an incoming Shadow. There were a lot fewer this time around, probably only fifteen – including the one Sora had just killed.

Ren dove past an incoming group of Shadows, lashing out with his guns as they flew above him and below him. The twin blades easily cut through the creatures of Darkness, causing their forms to disintegrate while he fired off a burst to cover Jaune's back.

Not that the young man needed it, however. He was expertly fending off the creatures that came at him. In fact, he seemed to be the main target of the Heartless, with at least ten of them going after him. Sora was starting to feel a little left out because of it, but it was heartening to see that his training sessions with the knight had been so useful so far. Jaune was defending against attacks from behind, both sides, and the front all at once. Whereas he had once been a stationary fighter, now he was moving around, presenting a much more difficult target for the Heartless. He was still a knight at Heart so his movements remained slower than the lightning fast moves Sora was used to making, but what he didn't dodge he could block or even just take the hit.

Sora slapped the last Shadow jumping towards him towards the ground, shattering it into a thousand wisps of darkness when it hit the ground. Floating stairs appeared at the edge of the station after just a few seconds. "That went a lot faster," Jaune said in excitement as he sheathed his weapon. He raised his hands above his head and _whooped_. "We're getting better at this!"

"Yeah we are!" Sora shouted, crossing his arms and grinning at Ren and Jaune. He looked over at the floating stairs. "Stay on your toes." He took off, sprinting towards the pathway with Jaune and Ren close behind. He ran across the winding stairway, Keyblade raised at his side, knowing that this was only the beginning. Everything had been easy so far, but it was only a matter of time before Jaune had to deal with his _real_ Darkness.

A few more of the minor shreds of that Darkness appeared after a while, shadows jumping out from the emptiness surrounding the stairway as the group ran. Sora blocked the closes incoming creature and kept running. "Let's run!" Sora shouted over his shoulder. He cast a Reflega quickly, causing the next wave of Heartless to crash against the wall of Light and rebound into the bottomless pit. He glanced back at Ren and Jaune who were easily dealing with the waves of Heartless, then turned again and sprinted away. He made it to the next station and turned around, waiting for his friends to make it there too.

Danger interceded, however, as a puddle of Darkness appeared on the stairs in the center of Ren's path. A small, sharp claw appeared out of the nothingness. "Ren!" Sora shouted, running back to help. He was too late, however, and Ren's leg was slapped to the side. Sora's eyes widened in worry; this may have been in Jaune's Heart, but there was some level of Danger anyways. He wasn't going to make it to save the ninja.

Luckily, Jaune was right there. He dived forward, hand wrapping around Ren's ankle just as he began to fall past the edge of the stairs. Ren whipped around, dangling dangerously above the chasm. "AAAH!" Ren screamed, louder than anything else he had ever said.

"I gotcha buddy!" Jaune shouted back, fist clenched as tightly as possible around his friend's leg. "Hang on!"

"I don't have much choice, Jaune!" Ren retorted, dangling upside down. He looked up and raised his guns, shooting the Shadows that tried to attack Jaune. "I've got your back."

Jaune grinned back at his friend, not showing the pain. Despite what Ren could see, the Heartless were successfully attack Jaune's lower body; Ren's defense was only helping to protect Jaune's upper body. "Good job," Sora muttered to himself as he approached. He raised his Keyblade and twisted it midair, casting a Reflega around Jaune and Ren to protect them. To the pair: "Pull him up, I've got both your backs!"

"Thanks!" they chorused. Jaune pushed himself up with his right hand, pulling his friend up slowly onto the pathway. Sora was moving quickly behind his friends, Keyblade flashing with pure light as he slashed the elongated blade at the incoming group of Darkness, the lightning quick flurry of attacks that Donald and Goofy had coined as _Ars Arcana_. The weapon moved faster than usual, and as if it had its own mind, and left no wisps of Darkness behind when they destroyed the remaining Heartless. The creatures took notice and more appeared to attack Sora, who turned the attack into more spins, slashing through large swaths of the incoming Shadows until none remained. The golden glow slowly disappeared from Sora's Kingdom Key, and he grinned when no more Heartless came to attack.

He turned around to the stunned Ren and Jaune. "Let's keep going, huh?"

Jaune sighed. "Why am I even surprised?" he asked no one in particular.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora, Ren, and Jaune soon arrived at the last of the Stations – Awakening. The other two Stations of Calling – the first adorned with Ruby and a group of girls that Jaune had said was her team, and the second by Ren and Nora – had been quiet, with only a few Heartless appearing before they had been able to move on. Jaune and Ren had taken this as a good sign. Sora... not so much. He knew from personal experience what was coming. As they reached the final step, he grabbed Ren's shoulder and let Jaune move on by himself. "What is it?" the other young man asked.

Sora shook his head and pointed towards Jaune, who was moving slowly towards the person who lay across the center of the Station. She was a young woman with hair of an almost crimson red done up in a pony tail. Her face was a kind one, with a small smile ever present that stretched into her deep green, sparkling eyes. On her left arm, which was in the foreground, was a small, round, bronze shield. Miló was held in her right hand, its blade appearing above her raised right knee. Both of her legs had armor up to her upper thighs, a deep bronze that matched her shield; black, high heeled boots covered that armor up to the middle of her calves. There was a black pouch on her hips and a red, flowing stream of fabric coming down from her right hip. Her upper body was clothed in a tight, armored corset and two black gloves. A bronze, armored necklace adorned her throat and there was a crown of the same color tucked beneath her hair. "Pyrrha?" Sora asked, one eyebrow raised.

Ren nodded slowly and stayed put, merely turning to stare at the crestfallen, saddened Jaune. "She's gone," he muttered, falling to his knees beside her face. ""She's gone!"

The figure began to fade to black, Darkness growing and reaching out at her edges as her features disappeared. "Jaune..." Ren cautioned to no avail.

"She's gone and she's not coming back," Jaune muttered.

"What's going on?" Ren asked.

"We're in his Heart," Sora explained with a suddenly serious face. "That means everything here is _exactly_ how he feels. There's no hiding your true Heart _inside_ your Heart."

"We have to help him," Ren hissed.

"And we will," Sora replied slowly. "He has our strength with him already; our Hearts are already connected with his. Wait, and believe in him. If we need to we'll help him out."

Ren remained quiet for a moment, then nodded and returned his attention to Jaune, who was staring at the black silhouette where Pyrrha had been a moment before. Sora wasn't worried, no matter the danger. Jaune was his friend, and he could do anything. Especially conquer his own Darkness. "She's gone!" Jaune screamed, surging to his feet and spinning around... to be greeted by a shadowy silhouette of the young woman herself. His eyes widened and tears began to accrue in his eyes. "W-wha – Pyrrha?"

The young woman didn't respond, instead remaining completely still. "Sora?" Ren asked worriedly. He got no response.

"Pyrrha, is that you?" Jaune asked again, taking a step towards the young woman. Her eyes slowly opened, revealing only glowing, yellow circles of rage. Jaune froze for a second, then took another step forward.

"Does even know where we are anymore?" Ren asked Sora, voice low. Sora shrugged. "What _do_ you know?"

"She's his deepest Darkness," he replied evenly, his fingers tightening on Ren's shoulder to keep them both from running to help immediately.

"Pyrrha..?" Ren asked, then turned to stare at the shadow of the young woman. "But she made him better."

"And what do you get when you turn off a light?" Sora asked.

Ren grew deathly quiet and stared at the hole where Pyrrha's Heart had once connected to Jaune's. "Pyrrha, it's me! Answer me!" Jaune yelled, moving quickly towards Pyrrha's silhouette.

He was immediately thrown back by a black of black wind, his body flung across the Station and sliding to its very edge. He raised his head slowly and stared up at the young woman with wide eyes. "P-Pyrrha?" the young blonde asked, voice laced with fear. But she was no longer Pyrrha. The form of the young woman was warping, growing as black energy lanced out from her shoulders and the ground at her feet. She grew slowly taller and her hair coiled like snakes. A large hole appeared in the center of her chest: an empty Heart.

"She's his Darkside," Sora said sullenly as the deepest Darkness of his friend towered above them all, yellow eyes glowing vibrantly against its pitch skin and the matching black abyss beyond the edges of the Station of Awakening. Its huge arms shuddered with barely restrained power and it took a slow, ponderous step backwards before unleashing a huge, angry roar.

Jaune pushed himself to his feet, clumsily trying and failing to pull Miló from its place at his hip. "P-Pyrrha..."

"You can do it, Jaune," Sora whispered, summoning the Keyblade to his left hand and pointing it at the knight. "I believe in you." The blonde knight stumbled backwards and stared up at the deepest, most painful Darkness of his Heart. "We _all_ believe in you."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Salem was pacing back and forth, bored, as she waited for her bishop to arrive. "What's the matter, Salem? Are you nervous about your pawns?" Ozpin asked wryly from his chains, a caustic smile plastered across his face. "Perhaps my smaller, more honest Soul has done what you believed impossible?"

"I very much doubt that," she replied coolly, though she didn't stop moving. "We both saw their battle. Though I can't say I expected another Keyblade wielder to follow Xehanort."

"Ah, a wielder of Light," Ozpin said, glancing up through the single shattered lens of his glasses. "Just as I said, the best of humanity inevitably find one another. And with a Keyblade Master on her side, Ruby will not lose."

Salem opened her mouth to retort, but froze as a wave of Darkness ran over the world. She cocked her head to the side. "Huh," she muttered in excitement. She grinned evilly over at Ozpin, whose face glowed with worry; he had felt it as well. "Well, let's see who _that_ was." She walked over to stand beside her prisoner and waved her hand. A portal of Darkness erupted before them and the image of a young man confronted by a huge, black monster appeared before them.

Salem turned towards Ozpin and smiled. The man's face was stoic, as it usually was. But Salem knew him well enough to know that he was not calm. "Oh..." she said, mock surprise in her voice. She grinned cruelly. "That's one of your little students, isn't it?"

"I am a headmaster. I have taught many," Ozpin replied coolly.

"Oh, you give nothing away, as ever," Salem said, nodding slowly. She walked behind Ozpin and around to his other side. "If I didn't know you as I know you, that is. You learn the names of all you teach, Oz."

"Only my friends call me Oz," he spat, turning to glare at her with rage filled eyes.

"Oh, Oz... I'm the first one who called you that," she said with a nasty smile. She sighed and shrugged, then turned to look up at the image of the young man's Heart. "I haven't felt a Darkness that strong since... well, he was also your student, wasn't he?"

"Enough!" Ozpin roared, jumping towards her with a wild expression, trying to hurt her in any way he could. She was just out of his reach, however, his headbutt stopping just shy of her unflinching nose. "Do not mock me, Salem. You would do well to remember _I_ bested _you_ all those years ago."

"Indeed you did," she admitted. "Then you gave away almost the power you had left. Now even my... pawn, was it? Yes, even my pawns can defeat you. How the mighty have fallen."

"Enough," he muttered, turning away and closing his eyes.

"Oh, come now, Oz. You're watching this. Watch, yet again, as one of your students gives in to the Darkness. As you fail, yet again," Salem said, grabbing Ozpin's face. When she pulled her hand away, Ozpin's eyes were frozen open to stare unblinking at his next failure. "Though, I suppose you should be used to it by now."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Gah!" Jaune cried out as the Darkside's fist crashed into his side, sending him flying to the other side of the Station. He dragged across the ground, stopping just shy of the edge. He groaned and placed both his hands beneath his body, struggling to push himself to his feet. "Pyrrha! Stop!"

"That's not Pyrrha, Jaune!" Sora snapped, sweeping his hand to the side. "The real Pyrrha, _she's_ still in your Heart no matter what! But this isn't her – you have to let Pyrrha go. She's dead, you can't change that!"

"No!" Jaune responded, turning towards his friends. "I won't give up hope! Never! There has to be something I can do! I can stop this, change it! I can get revenge, I can fix this!" He was hit in the back a moment later and tossed away again, rolling across the ground before laying unmoving at the Darkside's feet.

"You can't curse the world because of death, Jaune," Ren commanded. He raised his hands to his head andgrowled. "Would Pyrrha want that!? Would she want you to hate everything, to want to kill for revenge?"

"Jaune!"

The young man's eyes widened and his head snapped up. Standing behind the Darkside was a young woman with scarlet hair and a kind smile. She nodded at him and his Heart stopped for a moment. The Darkside barreling down at him was frozen, Sora and Ren were stopped mid shout. There was only the young red head smiling at Jaune, the man himself... and Miló glowing with the strength of Pyrrha's Heart beside him. He smiled back at her as she faded away... and his hand came down to grip Miló.

He shoved himself to his feet and raised the weapon above him towards the incoming fist of the Darkside. "Jaune!" Ren screamed, trying to rush towards his friend.

Sora pulled the ninja back by his arm, then barely ducked in time to dodge the wild punch that came his way. "What are you doing!?" Ren snapped at Sora.

The Keyblade wielder grinned and grabbed Ren's other wrist. "He's got this," he said, gesturing towards Jaune with his head. Ren turned just in time to see the huge fist of the Darkside crash into Jaune full force.

" _JAUNE_!" Ren screamed, tearing away from Sora and running towards his fallen friend. Then he stopped and gasped as there was a flash of light from the place where the Darkside's fist hovered. "Jaune?"

The Darkside was thrown backwards by a sudden explosion of light, crashing to lay prone on the floor of the Station. The one left standing was Jaune, who held a bronze, circular shield in his left hand and Miló in his right. He was staring at the ground, blonde hair obscuring his face. He slowly raised his gaze to meet Ren's stunned face and Sora's approving grin. "Toldja," Sora shot at Ren He sat down on the steps and pointed. "He has _our_ strength, and the strength of all those people his Heart has ever connected with. Family, friends, allies. He doesn't need our help because he _already_ has it."

Ren sighed, then nodded. "Let's watch," he said, sitting down next to Sora. He raised his fist. "You can do it, Jaune!"

The Knight grinned back before turning to the recovering Darkside. "Now, how about we see how round two goes?"

The creature didn't respond, instead opting to swing its huge arm towards the young man. He merely moved the shield and angled it upward, allowing the huge arm to glide above him while he raised his sword to carve through its wrist. The Darkside roared in pain and its arm pulled upward in reaction. Its head crashed into the ground once again and Jaune rushed towards it, sword raised and ready to attack.

The Darkside responded quickly, Darkness pooling at its back and flooding the Station with Shadows. Jaune barreled through the smaller Heartless, Miló flashing in the dim light to easily cut through them. Shadow after Shadow fell to his blade, disappearing into the Darkness as they were destroyed. "How is this possible?" Ren asked Sora as Jaune twirled and destroyed the creatures that surrounded him. "You said she was his Darkness, but now her weapons are his Light?"

"Well that's the thing about Darkness," Sora said, turning from Jaune cutting off the fingers of the Darkside's incoming fist. He smiled at Ren and summoned the Keyblade to his hand. "At the Heart of the Deepest Darkness, one can find the purest Light. There's always hope when it's hopeless, courage when you're most afraid. Love when all you can feel is hate. Light, when all you can see is Darkness. Pyrrha's loss is Jaune's deepest Darkness. But Pyrrha herself? Right now, she's Jaune's brightest Light."

Ren glanced at the ground before nodding. "You know, like Nora for you."

"We're. Not. Together!" Ren growled at Sora out of the corner of his mouth as he fixed his gaze on Jaune once more.

"If you say so," Sora said with a shrug before he watched Jaune once again.

Jaune was fighting like a true Huntsman, easily fending off all of the attacks from every side. Shadows fell like ants at to his blade, and the queen of the hive fared little better. His onslaught of quick, powerful attacks was easily breaking through what little defense the Darkside had. Jaune was inching closer and closer to the creature's head, where his blade could finally kill it. "I don't know what you are," Jaune said, his voice full of a new confidence that he was not used to having, "but you are not going to win this fight."

The Darkside responded with an angry growl and brought its fist up to smash into Jaune. The young man merely lashed out with his shield arm, the weapon snapping the Darkside's arm at the elbow and the remaining momentum pushing him towards the Darkside's head. "You should never have taken on Pyrrha's face," he growled, anger in his features as he flew towards the monster's unblinking and evil gaze. "And it's the last thing you'll do!"

The Darkside tried to push itself out of Jaune's path, but it was a fruitless effort. Jaune was already too close to fail, and Miló pierced the Darkside's eye. There was a flash of light and time around Jaune and the monster seemed to slow for a moment as Sora and Ren continued to watch. "At the end of the day, the Light in anyone's Heart can destroy the Darkness if you give it just a little bit of effort. That's why I believed in him, and I wanted you here. He needed to know you – his best friend – believed in him."

Ren nodded and smiled softly. "I have for quite a while," he said, watching his friend with a smile. Jaune's face was alight with a triumphant grin, a look that had rarely graced his features. "Ozpin believed in him, so I will too."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha! HA!" Ozpin roared triumphantly, mocking the enraged woman at his side. "It would seem you, yet again, deeply underestimate my students. I shouldn't be surprised: it's something of a... pattern with you."

"Is that so?" Salem asked, her scowl deepening as she watched the young man's Dive to the Heart fade away as he awakened. She ran through the events she had seen over and over again, the words she had heard from all present echoing through her mind. Her scowl deepened again for a moment, then drifted slowly to a smile. "Oh, I somehow doubt that." She raised her hand, and Ozpin could suddenly blink. He shut his eyes tight, fighting off the dryness as much as he could.

"Oh, you do?" Ozpin asked, one eyebrow raised. "Interesting. And here I thought you hadn't changed. After your betrayal it was never your strong suit. Growth, that is."

"Just as yours was never your intelligence," the woman replied, walking away from him. "You were always just stupid enough to trust children with power and responsibility beyond their wildest dreams. And, just like last time, it will inevitably _burn_ you."


	8. Vacation

**AN: So, this chapter is less focused on the main plot of the story and more on just some things that I had fun writing and really had nowhere else to place them. That said, I really had a lot of fun with this chapter and exploring a bit more of the Sora-Ruby relationship as well as a fight scene that I hope you all like. It's a Qrow one, so I was a big fan. Also, it just so happened that I placed some focus on Summer and Raven on Mothers Day, so that's a happy coincidence.**

 **Warden of Lore: I appreciate the enthusiasm. It's great to see this excites people!**

 **Keyslinger Roxas: I think you asked about the Rebirth Theroy earlier, but in case not I'll say it here. I do plan on using the Rebirth of Hearts in the story, though I don't want to say how.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

 ** _Chapter 8: Vacation_**

Sora stared, brow furrowed, at his opponent. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he relished the feel of the warm, pre-summer sun on his skin. His eyes narrowed and his legs tensed as he prepared to square of against her for supremacy. The sun reflected off of the water to his right, casting mosaics of light into his eyes as the waves caught the sun and bounced it into his face. He crouched, getting ready to jump at the slightest provocation. His eyes flicked towards his right, where his goal floated. His opponent crouched as well, ready to defeat him. Finally, it began, as so many things do, with a noise louder than a gunshot.

"Go!" Nora screamed, and Sora turned on a dime, leaping into the water. He began swimming like wild, as fast as he could; given that Sora had grown up on a tropical island, that was pretty fast. He was almost a quarter of the way to the buoy before the other racer was even in the water.

Unfortunately, his opponent had quite the powerful advantage. Ruby had jumped into the air and dashed through the air in a cyclone of red to land almost halfway towards the buoy. It turned out that her speed on land translated to speed in the water, too. "You aren't going to win this one, Sora!" she shouted as she swam towards the halfway mark. The Keyblade wielder just grinned in response and continued to swim as fast as he could towards the buoy. "You hear me?! I hope you like the flavor of second place!"

Sora almost laughed at that, but his competitive edge wouldn't let him. He was going to win this race just like he won those last races with Riku on the Islands years earlier. Pretty soon, he got into the rhythm of it. His arms moved almost mechanically, pulling him through the water with powerful, long strokes. He was moving like a torpedo, steadily gaining ground on the young woman. He didn't pay attention to that, though, still pushing himself like he was a mile behind. Every time his face came out of the water, he sucked in a huge breath and then propelled himself forward for three strokes, at which point his lungs began to yearn for air. Breath. Three strokes. Burn. Breath. Three strokes. Burn. The process continued mindlessly for a time, and before he knew it, Sora's outstretched hand slapped against the buoy.

He popped out of the water and turned to grin at Ruby, who had hit the floating marker at exactly the same time as him. "Oh, it's on," she said, splashing water in his face. He raised his arm to shield his eyes, reflexively. When he lowered it, she was already on her way back to the cruise liner.

"Oh, yes it is," Sora muttered, grinning widely. He took a deep breath, then dashed off after Ruby. He pulled after her, moving at full speed through the relative calm of the open ocean. His powerful arms dragged through the water faster and faster, pulling him towards Ruby. Soon he was neck and neck with her, almost even. Then he finally pulled ahead, just a little at first. Then Ruby redoubled her efforts and pulled ahead. Then he did. Then her. Finally, his hand slapped against the steps of the cruise liner and he pulled himself up and out of the water just seconds before Ruby herself did the same.

"Victory!" he screamed as his head and chest broke the water. He quickly got his feet onto the boat and raised his fists to the sky, cheering like a maniac. The buoy, floating barely in the air through the power of Dust, suddenly folded up and floated back to the ship's recreational supplies. "Never get in a swimming race with someone from Destiny Islands!" He ran a hand through his hair, which was soaking and plastered to his face, and swept it backwards. He put his hands into the pockets of his bright red swimming shorts and grinned down at the loser of the race.

"Ohhh," Ruby groaned, pulling out of the water and flopping on her back. She breathed heavy, struggling to recover her breath. She was more than in shape, but the buoy had been pretty far away. "I almost had you..."

"Almost isn't quite good enough when you're racing for keeps," Sora said. He smiled dumbly as he looked at Ruby, who was wearing a red and black bikini. He choked suddenly as he realized he was staring and shut his eyes to appreciate the sun.

"You okay?" Jaune asked from the deck above. He was bent over the edge of the boat, struggling against his motion sickness.

Sora nodded and opened his mouth to speak. Only a wheezing cough came out and and he cleared his throat. "Just, um, just swallowed some saltwater," he wheezed. He grinned sheepishly and turned to stare at the ocean, his smile quickly turning to a grimace at his nervousness. "I'm fine." He put his smile back on and turned back around. "Hey, you want the best two out of three?"

"Go race yourself," Ruby muttered, waving her hand at Sora before running her hand through her soaked red and black hair and letting her hand fall again to the surface of the boat. She breathed in as deeply as she could and let it out in a groan of exhaustion. The race had been almost a half mile of open water in either direction. "I gave that my all and you're not even tired!"

"I grew up on an island," Sora said with a nonchalant shrug. Then he scoffed. "What did you expect? A slow, easy race?"

"I grew up on an island, too!" Ruby shouted, her silver eyes glaring up indignantly at the boy who had beaten her.

"Tropical," Sora stated simply, cutting off her protests. He grinned and laced his hands behind the base of his head, closing his eyes and lifting his face to the sun. He sighed contentedly under the sunshine.

"Point," she muttered as she sat up and jumped to her feet. "Fair point. So, what now?"

"They're showing footage from the Vytal festival from twenty-five years ago," Jaune suggested, his voice barely catching as he mentioned the competition. He groaned again and bent over the edge of the ship.

"Isn't that the year your uncle's team took first place?" Ren asked Ruby, who nodded.

Nora shouted gleefully, bouncing up and down in excitement. She squealed in excitement and jumped from foot to foot. "Oh! This sounds so fun!"

"How did you know that?" Sora asked, crossing his arms over his chest and raising one of his eyebrows in interest.

"Ren saw it when they showed the list of all the old winners last year," she explained with a shrug. "He remembers everything! He can still remember this one bad dream I had when I was five and we were together in the orphanage. Oooh, it was so scary, I'm getting chills just thinking about it! Ren, Ren! Did it scare you, too? Tell me it scared you too! Please, come on! _RENRENRENREN_!"

Sora, Ruby, and Jaune glanced at each other, then back at the other two. "What?" Ren and Nora asked in tandem. As one, Sora, Ruby, and Jaune all breathed in, glanced at each other again, breathed out hurriedly, then turned away to return to the conversation. "What?!"

The silence stretched on. Nora's hand rose, one finger extended. The finger tapped Ren on the nose. "Boop." Her hand drifted back to her side, leaving only a stunned, dumbfounded Sora, Ruby, and Jaune. The only movement anyone made was to blink slowly, and Nora was being completely silent.

"I... think this would be fun," Sora said, breaking the increasingly awkward silence. He turned to Ruby and nodded. "I mean, I've seen Qrow fight first hand. I bet your parents are even better!"

"He did always say he was scared of his sister and my mom," she murmured. She beamed at the others and nodded. "Well, then yeah. Let's do it. I'll have something to hold over Uncle Qrow when I see him get knocked out halfway through." She grinned evilly and tented her hands. "Just what I've been looking for!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora coughed and pulled at the tie that was wrapped around his throat. The showing of the old Vytal festival was, unfortunately, a black tie affair. Meaning the usually relaxed beach bum was being forced to wear a black suit jacket with a button up shirt. He was barely able to get the people at the door to let him in with his necklace on. He grimaced as he tugged at his collar again, the only alleviation to his suffering being that Ruby was commiserating with him. She looked just as uncomfortable as him, stumbling around in her high heeled shoes. "I'm glad someone else hates this as much as me," she said as she nearly tumbled again, echoing Sora's thoughts perfectly. She sighed, gesturing at her red and black dress. "Last time I wore this was at a really awkward party."

"School for me," Sora grumbled as he pulled out a seat for Ruby. She flashed a smile in thanks and he felt that familiar red creeping up his ears, the red that he was used to feeling whenever he was around Kairi. "And I hated it just as much then as I do now." He took the seat next to Ruby as Jaune, Ren, and Nora filed in to sit at the table with them.

"Reminds me of our friend, Sun," Ruby said.

"The Faunus boy who never wore a shirt?" Nora asked, head cocked to the side.

"Nora," Ren said, shaking his head. "He _wore_ a shirt. It was just always open."

"Same difference," Nora shrugged as she grabbed a piece of bread from the basket at the center of the table and stuffed it whole into her mouth. The rest of her words came out as muffled noises.

Sora raised his eyebrow at the idea. He had long since learned what Faunus were, one of those questions that nearly clued his new friends into the fact that he wasn't even from their world. Of course, once he mentioned Donald and Goofy, everything had cleared up. He just claimed they didn't have a name for Faunus because they were just his friends, an explanation that had impressed his friends a lot. It bothered Sora that people hated Faunus just for being different, though the White Fang gave people plenty of good reasons to do so. If he had the chance, Sora would do exactly as Yen Sid and King Mickey told him not to... meddle in the affairs of Remnant and try to help everyone he could.

For now, he would get to watch Ruby's mom, dad, uncle, and sister's mom – what a weird family dynamic – beat the snot out of other people. "I gotta admit, I'm really excited about this," Sora whispered, leaning towards Ruby. "I can't wait to see this Taiyang that your uncle keeps threatening me with."

"He what?" Ruby asked, turning towards the Keyblade wielder with an eyebrow raised. "He... he what?"

Sora palled, knowing that the Huntsman would probably not be happy that he revealed that. "Oh, um... Hey, look, it's starting!" he hissed, pointing directly at the descending screen. The projector lit up – 'Dustvision – a Schneecorp Subsidiary.'

"Again!?" Ruby hissed. She opened her Scroll and began running through the menu for the event. "I bet she even owns this boat!"

"She does. It said so on the banner when we were boarding," Sora whispered back, staring at the screen as it faded to black. Soon, the projector lit up once again and Ruby hushed him, holding her hand up to silence him. She wasn't going to let anything get in her way of watching her uncle get punched in the face... then demolish his opponents. Maybe she wanted to hold something over him, but he was still her uncle and she'd root for him no matter what. Even if the fight was twenty five years done.

"My goodness, this is shaping up to be an excellent year for the Vytal Festival Games," a woman's voice said as the screen began to glow. Soon, a middle aged woman with blazing red hair wearing a shirt of shimmering red and gold sequins. On her left was a younger man, maybe in his mid twenties, with bright blonde hair and wearing white armor. He looked... familiar to say the least. "Don't you think, Argent?"

"Dad?" Jaune muttered, his scroll falling to the table and his eyes wide. The rest of the group turned to look at him then back at the man on the screen. He was nearly the spitting image of Jaune, save his dark brown eyes and the slight differences in his nose. And the warrior's beard on his jawline. "No way..."

"I agree, Flare," Jaune's father said, lacing his fingers in front of him and speaking into his microphone. He turned towards the woman. "I'm excited to see the top team from my old school, Beacon Academy."

The woman nodded then returned her gaze to the camera. "Oh, I agree. Team STRQ's exploits both in and out of class are widely known," Flare responded, nodding enthusiastically. "Team STRQ has the four students with the highest combat aptitude at their school. Combined with the leadership of Summer Rose, the team has already become famous for finishing second at the last Vytal Festival as well as for their escapades in battling the criminal underworld of Vale."

"And he gets angry at _us_?" Ruby hissed, clenching her fists on top of the table. "He's exactly the same!"

"Indeed," Argent told his co-announcer, overshadowing Ruby's grumbling. "And on top of all that, these kids have mastered some of the most rare styles of fighting in all of Remnant."

"A scythe wielder alone is rare enough," Flare stated, gesturing to bring up a bio and headshot of a smirking young man. Qrow was almost exactly the same as he'd been decades earlier, maybe with hair slightly less gray and with a clean shaven jawline. Though the smirk... well, that was the same. Images of three other people shot up on the screen – a young woman with the same red eyes as Qrow and long black hair, a jovial young man with lilac eyes hungry for battle, and...

"She looks just like you," Sora told Ruby as the woman appeared on the screen. Indeed, she did. The only difference lay with the color of the cloak over her head, a pure white, and the much more timid smile on her face. Ruby smiled and nodded.

The announcers never stopped speaking as Sora turned back to the screen. "... rest of the Team are no slouches either," Flare continued, smiling. She gestured at Taiyang. "A young man who can wield the dangerous shot-gauntlets and control fire with his Semblance – " The image changed to Qrow's sister, Raven. "the school's best Dust manipulator and master swordsman – " The image shifted once again to show the timid smile of Ruby's mom. "and the twin ax wielder with the Semblance of temporary invisibility, I'd say any opponent that has the misfortune of facing off with Team STRQ will have their work cut out for them."

"But that's not to say the other schools don't have their own aces in the hole," Argent admitted. He pressed a button on the table. "Team JETT, led by James Ironwood of Atlas Academy is another frontrunner for the fight, with the group being considered the most disciplined amongst even the Atlesian students. Ether Strong, the team's sniper, and Teal Stone, the heavy weapons specialist, are a powerful duo who work incredibly well together as long range fighter and her defender. The fourth member of the team and Teal's brother, Terra, rounds out the group as the most skilled close quarters fighter in the Atlesian military." The images of the four popped up on the screen: a young man in a white battle suit, a masked woman in black, a young dark skinned man with a serious smile, and another dark skinned man with a scar running over one eye.

"And – oh, it appears the first fight is about to start!" Argent said, waving down the images of another four warriors. "Well, well – we're starting off bold! Team STRQ and Team JETT please report to the arena!"

"Well, that was fast," Jaune muttered as the screen cut to the stadium, and the fight started to get underway. He smiled as the waiter placed a bowl of noodles in front of him. "Dinner _and_ a show! Yeah!"

"Sh!" the rest of the table hissed, causing the blonde to blush and grin sheepishly.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Well, well, well. If it ain't General Jimmy," Qrow taunted as he and his team walked to center stage, each member letting their weapons rest as the surrounding terrain was chosen. "And his goon squad. How you doin', Jimbo?"

"It is James," the man snapped, taking a half step forward.

"Ah, ah, General Jimmy," Qrow said, moving his finger back and forth. "You should save it for the fight; don't want those specialists you look up to kicking you to the bottom rung 'cause you can't even deal with little ol' me."

"I'm going to enjoy wiping that smirk off your face," Ironwood steamed, returning to the same military attention that his teammates held.

"Stop antagonizing him, Qrow," Raven said sternly. She turned, the same smirk on her face as she looked at Ironwood and his squad. "Don't make his inferiority complex any worse."

"My what!?" Ironwood growled.

"You're right," Raven admitted, holding her hands up and shaking her head. Then she opened her eyes and smirked. At the same time as her brother, she said, "It's your whole damn team that has it."

Even while Team JETT stood across from them, barely containing their rage, Raven was whirling on her brother. She slapped the back of his head. "I said not to do that!"

"Oh, come on! But what about the whole twin thing," he pleaded. He pointed past Raven. "Summer thought it was funny. Come on, right?"

The woman in white made an "EEP!" noise and pulled her hood further down onto her face. Her eyes peeked out from beneath her hood, her twin hatchets dangling at her sides beneath her cloak. Qrow frowned. "Well, Tai, you liked it? Right, best buddy, best pal?"

He smirked and looked ready to nod, until he glanced over at Raven's unamused face. His mouth shut quickly and he shook his head vigoursly. "Tch. Man, you're so whipped," Qrow said, waving off his best friend good naturedly.

"Do you four take anything seriously?!" Ironwood snapped, his gloved fists clenched at his side, squeaking as the leathery grip slid against itself.

"My devotion to never drinking alcohol," Qrow said, pounding his fist onto his chest, then raising one finger to the sky somberly.

"What?" Taiyang snorted. "Qrow, you party harder than anyone on campus!"

"Exactly," he said, nodding. A wild grin broke out on Qrow's face and he shrugged. "I don't even take that seriously!"

Summer looked up from under her hood at her opponents. "Good luck," she said quietly as the two terrains were finally being chosen. The one to the backs of Team JETT was an abandoned city. Behind Team STRQ was a forest of timber. As the beginning of the fight approached and the niceties were out of the way, the hooded Huntress's smile suddenly became confident and her voice raised a little, just enough that STRQ and JETT could hear it: "You're going to need it."

"Excuse -"

"Begin!" Flare screamed from far above, and Teal was cut off when a fiery explosion slammed into his chest, sending him flying into the cityscape behind him. Taiyang just grinned, his fist still smoking from the blast. Then the fight really began.

"Ether, with Teal!" Ironwood shouted, sending the sniper off and running right at Qrow, who was busy pushing his bangs out of his eyes and smirking at the other warrior. As he sprinted towards the scythe wielder, he drew his pistol and fired off a few rounds at Qrow, which he easily dodged."He's mine!"

"Tai, Raven – go deal with the other two," Summer commanded, spinning her hatchets into the form of twin guns. She aimed them at Terra and began firing off a few Dust bullets. "We've got these two." Taiyang and Raven nodded and immediately sprinted off, dodging Terra's attacks and even getting a few of their own in as they ran past him and into the abandoned city.

Qrow lazily dodged every blow of his opponent, trademark smirk plastered to his face the entire time as he did. He made no move to counterattack, continuing to just move past the every attack of Ironwood. "Come on, Jimmy," Qrow taunted, barely paying any attention to the fight. He ducked beneath a pistol whip and rolled to the side. "I was hoping you'd at least give me a good fight."

"And I will, once I show you what it's like when that smirk is wiped off your face," Ironwood growled, bringing his knee up as Qrow dodged, the blow nailing the scythe wielder in the face and causing him to stumble backwards, off hand over his face.

When he removed it, his face was not a scowl but... his smirk. "I'm glad to see this might actually be fun," he said, raising his weapon in front of him. His legs tensed for a moment and he jumped towards Ironwood, ready to knock him out of the fight.

Summer was doing even better than her teammate, easily dodging the every blow from the twin dagger wielder, Terra. Her hatchets would every so often slash into his side, slowly but surely depleting his aura. She raised the two weapons and deflected an incoming blow easily. Using the point of contact, she slid across the ground beneath Terra and looped her weapons around his ankles as she passed him. He flipped onto his face when she suddenly slid up to her feet.

When Terra stood up, he swung his twin blades at where she would be standing. The blades collided with only empty air, causing the warrior's eyes to widen in surprise. He raised his weapons defensively, waiting for the inevitable attacks. He didn't have to wait long, as the young woman appeared for a moment behind him, slamming the blades of both her axes into the middle of his back, sending him stumbling forward. She disappeared after just a moment, and his counterattack hit nothing.

On the other side of the center section, James and Qrow's battle was heating up. Ironwood was firing off at the scythe wielder, who quickly dodged each of the attacks before rushing towards Ironwood again. His scythe – still in sword form – flashed through the air, the leader of JETT barely dodging each blow. Eventually, he caught the edge of the weapon with the curve of his pistol and spun around the weapon, delivering a sharp blow with his elbow to Qrow's skull. He then grabbed the stunned warrior by the neck and belt and threw him into the forested area. He made to follow, but saw his teammate struggling. He snarled and pulled a cylinder from his belt, pulling the pin and throwing it straight up. Smoke began to leak from it, drifting lazily to surround the center of the arena as Ironwood took off after Qrow.

Terra grinned at this, and soon saw movement out of the corner of his vision. He spun on his heel and blocked the incoming hatchets with his combat daggers. "Got you," Terra said with a grin. He brought his leg up and the attack collided with the woman's midsection, sending her flying backwards. She bounced across the ground for a moment before finding her feet again. Summer nodded in agreement, then disappeared again. Terra watched the smoke carefully for the incoming attack, but none came. Instead, he saw her form running towards the forest. He tensed his legs and sprinted after her.

"Where did she go?" Terra asked as he caught up to Ironwood, who was also looking around for his opponent.

"Damn if I know," the team leader growled, unholstering a second pistol and holding the weapons out. He moved in a slow circle, waiting for the inevitable attack. He didn't have to wait long, as a white blur crashed into his side and sent him tumbling into a tree. Terra moved to help, only to feel a staff slam into his forehead and send him tumbling to the ground.

When he opened his eyes, Qrow was smirking above him, scythe now fully extended and hanging over his shoulders. The announcers cut off his impending insult, stating, "Ouch, and there go Ether and Teal – down by both arena knockout and loss of Aura!"

"We let them beat us?" Qrow whined. He kicked the dirt up and shot a glare over at Summer. "Why'd you play around with this guy?"

"I was about to ask the same thing," she shot back, twisting her hatchets so the blades faced away from one another. She then slammed the backs of the weapons together, metal plates sliding into place as they collided. The blades of the weapon extended, and a longer handle popped out from the conjoined bottom. She gripped the new handle with both hands and spun around, chopping through the trees that surrounded them.

"I was bored," Qrow suggested, jumping up and slicing the tops off of the trees so that only the trunks began to fall. As he jumped from each one to the next, his kick sent them flying towards the stunned Ironwood and Terra. The trunks slammed into the ground and Qrow grinned when he saw that neither warrior had lost any Aura – they'd dodged. He put his weapon behind him and fired off the shotgun connected to it, causing his weapon to spin at his back as he fell. When he brought the attack around, it collided with Ironwood's pistols, crossed together in an 'X' to block his attack. "Though, now he has my full attention."

"Good," Summer said, sliding beneath an incoming attack from Terra's daggers. She lashed out with her ax, and Terra jumped over the attack, flipping midair and tossing the combat daggers at Summer. She raised her weapon, deflecting the weapons, then went in for the victory. Terra merely smiled and yanked his arms up. Summer cried out as her feet caught on the wires connecting the daggers – now buried blade first into the ground – and Terra's wrists. He yanked again and shot towards his daggers, towards Summer's falling form, feet first. She rolled with her fall, and he overshot, his blow instead colliding with the back of his team leader's head.

Ironwood stumbled forward, and was greeted by the spinning base of Qrow's scythe, then by a slash across the chest. The scythe collapsed into a sword again, and he dealt a two handed blow that sent both James and Terra flying towards Summer. She dealt a hefty two handed blow to the connected Atlesian students, and they were sent back at Qrow, whose weapon was again a scythe. With a few shots of its gun, the scythe was spinning like a whirlwind again and he brought the considerable momentum around and upward to send James and Terra soaring into the sky, where they collided with the roof of the terrarium and fell to the arena again. As they hit the ground, the bars on the jumbotron representing their Aura levels screamed quickly down to the fifteen percent marker and below.

The arena immediately erupted into cheers, everyone present going wild at the intense skill in battle they had just witnessed. Raven and Tai quickly ran up. "What, too busy flirting to come and help us out?" Qrow jabbed at his sister, whose face reddened.

"As if you two would want our help," Taiyang shot back.

"Tch, yeah. You're right," Qrow said, turning to grin at Summer. The young Huntress' hood was down from the battle, revealing her hair – which Sora noted was actually longer than Ruby's and a shade lighter. Summer blushed suddenly and deactivated her weapons. The hood was quickly pulled back up as she realized that a considerable amount of eyes were focused on her because of her display of skill. "You two probably would have only gotten in our way."

"You want to say that to my face!?" Raven growled, grabbing her brother by the cape and dragging him away.

"You know it's true," Qrow shot back, throwing back his head and laughing heartily. Soon, the rest of Team STRQ was doing the same.

After a few moments Qrow sighed and pushed himself to his feet to walk over to his fallen foe. He rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "Well, you did good Jim – James," he said, holding out his hand. The Atlesian student narrowed his eyes, but took the gesture of goodwill anyways. "Just loosen up, or you'll end up as a general, and who'd want to be a tightass like those guys?"

"ME!" Ironwood shouted, fists raised angrily to the sky at Qrow's jab. "I want to be like those guys!"

Raven smirked. "You would," she murmured. "Tightass." This drew loud laughter from the other members of her team, and even from Terra on the ground.

"Oh, shut up," Ironwood grumbled, moving to help his teammate to his feet.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Well, looks like you don't have anything to hold over him," Sora muttered as the fight came to an end and the next, which was between a team from Mistral and one from Vacuo, began. He leaned back, his bowl of noodles empty and shook his head. "That was... wow."

"Your uncle is so cool," Jaune whispered, eyes still stuck on the screen. He shook his head. "Jeez."

"What about her mom?" Nora asked, for once at a loss for words. She quietly made fighting noises and slashed around with her arms. "She was awesome! With the little axes that became the big one! That was awesome! Pow, bow, pang!"

"I knew Uncle Qrow was lying!" Ruby hissed. She shook her head disapprovingly. "He told me he didn't really know the General, but it sure looked like they knew each other!"

"The Ironwood guy?" Sora asked. He nodded. "Yeah, they seemed like me and Riku when we were kids. Rivals, but friends."

"Friends?" Ren asked, dumbfounded. "You can't be serious."

"Hey, hear me out," Sora said, hands raised defensively. "They looked like they respected each other, you know. Why, do they not like each other now?"

"I think he once called any members of the Atlesian military, 'Spineless tightwads who should shoot themselves,'" Ruby explained. She put her hand on her chin and leaned against it. "Though, I think he was just trying to insult Weiss' sister."

"Is that the person he got in a fight with in the courtyard last year?" Nora asked as she stuffed more of the bread from the basket into her mouth.

"Nora, where are your table manners!" Ren hissed, struggling with her to try and get the berserker to eat better. Sora, Jaune, and Ruby glanced between each other again, completely silent and stifling their remarks. Ren caught their eyes and shook his head, a movement that warned them ' _Not even once_!'

"Yeah, it was," Ruby said, nodding her head. She turned to Sora. "Weiss' sister, Winter. She's got white hair, a sword, and a permanent scowl. I don't think she likes me very much..."

"How?" Sora asked, causing the scythe wielder to blush slightly. "You're fun, happy, a great fighter."

Ruby giggled girlishly and played with her hair. "Oh, shut up," she mumbled. She continued giggling until Nora caught her eye, one eyebrow raised. Then Ruby sat straight up and forced herself to stop blushing. "Thanks, Sora."

The Keyblade wielder grinned and shot out a thumbs up. "It's the truth," he said, grinning even wider, "so no problem!"

"Jeez, and I make fun of Ren and Nora," Jaune said, rubbing his forehead.

"Excuse me?" Ren and Nora asked loudly. Sora and Ruby just blushed deeply and laughed nervously.

"SH!" the entire room hissed at their table.

 _ **R W B Y**_

A few weeks later, the ship was halfway through its travels and nearly to the coast of Menagerie, a large, mostly unexplored island south of Mistral. Sora and Ruby were busy not being busy, merely lounging in the sunlight on the main deck of the cruise liner. Sora reached over to the table between their two chairs and grabbed his smoothie, taking a long draught from the fruity drink. It tasted like Paopu fruit, if he pretended a little. When he closed his eyes he could almost remember his home, a place he hadn't seen for months. And even when he had, it had only been a for a few weeks. He hadn't been truly home in years.

Still, this was something he needed to do. Travel around, helping people – it was his calling in life. He sighed in enjoyment and soaked up the sunlight, shoving such heavy thoughts from his mind. He couldn't do anything about it right then, so it was better to just appreciate his time with his new friends. "What are you thinking about?" Sora asked Ruby suddenly. He opened his eyes and looked over at her. She was fiddling with her Scroll and quickly put it down. "What were you looking at?"

"Oh, just..." she sighed and shrugged. "My team."

Sora sat up and slid his feet off of his chair. "I'd love to hear about them," he said, leaning forward and smiling invitingly. Ruby sighed and glanced at her Scroll for a moment, then nodded. She jumped over to sit next to Sora.

"I guess I haven't really talked about them too much, have I?" she asked the young Keyblade wielder.

Sora shook his head. "I've heard about them from others, but you never really talk about them," Sora replied. He crossed his arms and looked down at the Scroll, on which Ruby had just pulled up a picture of four young women. One was Ruby herself, both hands in the air as she fell forward. Another was a very excited looking blonde with lilac eyes. The third was a girl with white hair and a matching dress trying to chastise Ruby and the blonde even while she was being knocked over. Taking the photo was a black haired girl with half lidded eyes that gave her an annoyed look that she used to try and hide her amusement.

"Well, you know her," Ruby began, pointing at herself.

"Really? I don't think so," Sora responded, joking. "Tell me, what's her name?"

"Ha ha," Ruby said dryly. She moved her finger to the girl with white hair. "That's Weiss. She'll deny it if you ever ask, but she's my best friend. She's a Schnee and... her dad took her away before we could get going."

"What's she like?" Sora asked, leaning in closer.

"When I met her, way too serious," Ruby replied. She laughed. "She would yell at me for tying my shoes 'wrong' at first."

"Sounds bad," Sora chuckled.

"It was," Ruby admitted sheepishly. "She got better, though. More fun. She's really good at using Dust with her fencing blade, Myrtenaster. It's how she uses her Semblance, different glyphs for different things. She can speed people up, slow them down, and stop gravity! It's nowhere near your magic, but she's still a great fighter."

"And you jumped off of a giant bird with her, right?"

Ruby grimaced. "Yeah. Yeah, that was her," Ruby said, laughing nervously. She looked back down at the picture and frowned. "The blonde's my sister and the other one is Blake, there we go, done."

"Hey!" Sora shouted. "Come on, tell me about them, too!"

Ruby sighed. "Do I have to?" she whined.

"Yes?" Sora replied.

Ruby sighed. "My sister is Yang. She's... loud," she began, pointing at the picture again. In spite of herself, she began smiling as she remembered their times together. "She fights like my dad, and sadly inherited his sense of humor. If you ever meet her, don't let her start joking. She thinks she's good at it."

"But she's not?"

Ruby shook her head and shivered. "Definitely not," she muttered, looking shellshocked. She looked up and smiled sadly. "Usually she's brave and crazy and has a short, explosive temper. She helped raise me after my mom... passed away. Which couldn't have been easy for her, since her mom disappeared not too long before that. She is – _was_ the strongest person I knew."

"Now who is it?" Sora asked. "Qrow?"

Ruby blushed and shook her head. "You," she muttered, causing the Keyblade wielder to blush just as much. They grew silent for a while, each nervously glancing around. Finally, Ruby broke the awkward silence. "And this is Blake. She uses a sword that folds into a gun and hook. She's... even headed. Serious, but still fun. Private."

Ruby's face suddenly soured. "But that doesn't matter, because they're both afraid now. Blake ran away and Yang hides under the covers like a little girl. Neither of them want to try to fix anything," Ruby said, her voice laden with disappointment. She sighed and shut off the Scroll, placing it on the table again. She shook her head and leaned forward, her chin on her hands.

Sora nodded slowly, eventually placing his hand over Ruby's shoulders. She fought off the urge to freeze up. "I know how it feels," Sora said, trying awkwardly to console her. "But you can't give up on them. They're still your friends, your family."

"I know that," Ruby said, looking over at Sora. "But it still hurts that they'd abandon me like that. I don't hate them I just... I don't understand why they did it. They should be here, with us, trying to fix everything!"

Sora nodded. "Then find a way to tell them that," Sora said, smiling encouragingly. "It's just like Ms. Goodwitch said, right? If you tell them how you feel and just be yourself, their leader, then they'll follow you eventually."

"You think?" Ruby asked with a sad smile.

"I know," Sora said adamantly. He gave Ruby a side hug, causing them both to blush despite themselves. Sora wondered what was going on with himself, but quickly shoved the thought from his head. "Now how about we do something more fun, huh? What do you think sounds good, Ruby?"

Ruby was quiet for a moment as she considered this. Finally: "I like just being here," she said, shutting her eyes and smiling.

Sora took his arm off of Ruby and her eyes opened slightly, annoyed, and watched him go over to the other chair again to lay in the sun. She sighed but threw her feet up onto the chair and leaned back as well. She closed her eyes and tried to get her incredibly pale skin to tan. After a few moments, she began to speak again, finding courage for a moment. He _had_ after all claimed it wasn't like that with that girl, Kairi. "Sora... I... You know, do you maybe want to go get some food? Alone. In a non-friend way?"

There was no response. Ruby frowned. "Sora?" No response. She opened her eyes and glanced over. "Sora – " She sighed. He was asleep.

"You really stuck to that doing nothing, huh?" a voice jabbed, causing Ruby's gaze to whip towards a smiling Nora. The ginger shrugged. "I can respect that. Don't wait, and all that."

Ruby opened her mouth to say something about Nora and Ren, only to be cut off by the ginger. "No!" Nora's glare on Ruby deepened for a moment, before exploding into a smile. "Ren asked me to come over to see what you guys wanted; we're going to pick up food. Unless you want to try that again?"

Ruby palled, courage gone. "N-no," she said, smiling nervously. "Cheeseburgers sounds good!"

Nora shrugged, then nodded before skipping off in the other direction, muttering excitedly about pancakes for dinner. Ruby shook her head in amusement, then looked over at the sleeping Sora. She stood up and poked him in the arm. "Wake up sleepyhead," she said, poking him again.

His eyes slid half open. "Stop it, Kairi," he muttered, waving his arm groggily before shutting his eyes again. "Five more minutes." A few seconds passed and a quiet snore escaped his throat.

Ruby sighed and let him dream of his home. She sat back down on her chair and stared up at the sky, knowing she couldn't be angry or jealous that he was thinking of his home. She wasn't, either. She understood his thirst for his home and his friends, often feeling the same empty burning when thinking of her team, even when she was a little angry with them. It wasn't right to be so far from them when they should be with her, hunting Cinder and – now – Xehanort. And, unlike Weiss, Blake and Yang could be there. General Ironwood had even offered prosthetic limbs similar to his own to all the survivors of the Vytal Festival attack who needed them, saying, "It's what Oz would have wanted." Yang had turned it down in a fit of sullen rage, and though the offer still stood it wouldn't forever. And as for Blake... Ruby had no clue where the Faunus girl could be. As soon as the CCT had come back up, she'd asked Sun if he'd heard from her. He'd angrily replied with a no.

Ruby shook her head to clear her thoughts, trying to focus on the good things in life. She was hot on the heels of Cinder and her crew, and she had even been able to soundly defeat the woman with Sora's help. Once they figured out a way to beat back Xehanort, they would be able to bring all of the pain and destruction that they'd wrought on Remnant to an end. Maybe then all of the damage could be healed. Ruby wondered what she would do then. She wanted to help people, but what would the best way to help be? She wanted to travel the world and help people, but she also wondered if the best way to help people would be to help get Beacon back up and running. Bringing in Cinder would probably guarantee a job there, if she ever wanted one.

She frowned suddenly. What would Sora do? From how he spoke, it sounded like he really wanted to go home, but it also sounded like he had no idea how to do so. Would he travel Remnant, looking for a way home? Or would he try and stay in one place? He did say that his best friends would be looking for him, so the best idea might be to stay put and wait for them to find him. Maybe he'd stick around with her until they found him. She smiled sheepishly. Or maybe he'd go off on his own. She frowned. Whichever it was, she'd understand.

She shook her head. Sora was her friend, so she knew exactly what she'd do after catching Cinder and fixing everything – she'd help him find his way home. That was what a friend would do, even if it meant she'd end up never seeing him again. The thought saddened her, but it was the right thing to do. And for Ruby Rose, the most important thing someone could do was the right thing to help people. It was all she had ever wanted, and helping out a friend meant even more to her.

Ruby sat up straight, fist clenched tight and resolve firm. She would help Sora find his way home no matter what. Then she'd even be able to meet his other friends, like Riku, Donald, or Goofy. Maybe even this Kairi girl that Sora cared for so much. She nodded, excited that she finally had a goal in mind instead of just wandering aimlessly after saving the world. Something a little less dangerous would be a nice change of pace from the world ending fights she'd dealt with since being invited to attend Beacon. The normal life of a Huntress... well, relatively normal. And after that... well, she'd figure that out when the time came. And who knew, maybe she'd get a chance to see Sora again after all was said and done and he'd gone home. He'd always said that he'd never forget his friends, no matter how much time had passed, and she believed him.

"Pancakes!" Nora roared, charging down the deck with precariously balanced food in either hand.

"Nora, slow down!" Ren shouted, sprinting after her.

"Oh, no," Ruby muttered as Nora's foot hit a patch of water and she began to slide across the deck and full speed, the food in her hands swaying back and forth in her grasp as she did.

"Watch out below!" Nora screamed, her leg finally colliding with the chair Sora was napping on. His eyes flew open as her weight flipped his chair and sent him flying through the air, a stack of pancakes slapping him across the face before he fell back onto the deck.

"Ow," he groaned, raising his face. Yellow circles were painted around his eyes in butter and syrup was dripping from his chin.

Nora looked like she was about to cry. "My... pancakes!"

Ren sighed. "Nora," he said, rubbing his forehead in exasperation.

Ruby just watched the entire scene unfold, then suddenly began laughing full force. Sora glanced at Ruby, then Nora and Ren, and finally began laughing at the whole ordeal as well. Nora quickly caught the infection of laughter. Ren sighed, then chuckled once in agreement. "Oh, Nora," he muttered again, leaning down to help her up.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Raven Branwen had been watching Ozpin and Salem from afar for some time, silently observing both of the battles that the two had watched. She knew that she was right in being scared of Xehanort, now. He could fight in a way that she had never thought possible, using abilities she could only describe as... Dark. True, Raven herself was no stranger to the power that Darkness could bring, but after watching his battle with Summer's daughter and her friends... and the boy with a Keyblade, she was starting to fear the possibilities that it contained. It was powerful, true, but whenever she saw Xehanort or Salem call on its power even she grew somewhat afraid. It disconcerted her, feeling that emotion for the first time in so long.

And that fear had brought things to her mind she thought she had long ago abandoned. She wondered, suddenly, just how her daughter was doing and how Taiyang had changed over the past twenty years. The thoughts were ones she tried to bury, but she continually failed. Her daughter and her husband, two people she had tried so hard to not remember. She'd given into weakness once before, saving her daughter on that train, but she had assured herself that was it. She didn't care about Yang and Tai anymore. They were weakness. But that weakness just wouldn't leave her mind. Her concern kept echoing through the darkness despite her best attempts to kill it.

She even cared about Summer's daughter. The girl was the spitting image of her mother, right down to those impossible silver eyes. Those eyes which would drive the darkest evils to hunt her to the ends of the world, whether from the desire to find a way to steal their power or to simply extinguish their light. People with those eyes were, at their Hearts, heroes; pure, unadulterated Lights. So Summer had a daughter just like her, a pure, bright light in the darkness. Hopefully she was better at mellowing out Yang than Summer had been with Raven; it wouldn't do for both of them to have daughters just like them.

Raven shook her head, trying to shove out the weakness again. What had she been doing before focusing on all this? She nodded when she remembered – trying to speak with Ozpin. Salem had gone off into the depths of the Grimmlands, searching for something. It was the perfect time to ask for instructions. He had, after all, been the one to choose Raven for this assignment. She was the brawn that his brain had sent out to search the Darkness for clues, to look in the places that even Qrow wouldn't go for the truth. Salem hadn't revealed much, except her existence, but Ozpin had been grateful for that much even.

"You should hurry if you don't want to be caught," the headmaster said simply as Raven debated with herself. The warrior looked over at the headmaster, who was casting a dry glare in her direction. "Well? Move, Raven."

She nodded and dashed out from behind her hiding place, keeping the Grimm mask on that helped mask her presence from Salem's prying gaze while in the Grimmlands. She crouched next to Ozpin, scowling behind her mask. "Am I finally setting you free?"

"Please," Ozpin said dryly, glaring at her through the lens-less frame of his glasses. "You know the time isn't right for that. As long as I am here, I learn what she has in store for Remnant. I would not trade such a valuable position for freedom when that will be inevitably mine anyways. No."

"Then what, Pin?" Raven asked.

Ozpin sighed in annoyance at her nickname for him. "I have no doubt that your brother is following Ruby and her friends as we speak," the former headmaster muttered, glancing down as he did. "What I need is for those I trust most to know I am still alive, and that our contingencies are still in effect."

"Qrow and Goodwitch?" Raven asked.

"Indeed," Ozpin replied. He glanced up at the sky. "As well as General Ironwood, Corrine Fuscia, and Aride Stole."

"The other headmasters?" Raven asked. She crossed her arms. "You sure they can be trusted?"

"James especially is beyond reproach," Ozpin said hurriedly. "Though Salem does keep mentioning Haven."

"So keep a special eye on Aride," Raven summarized.

"Yes," Ozpin said grimly. "She may not know what is happening, but I do not want to be surprised if she does." He glanced up and studied the horizon of darkness before turning with a worried gaze towards Raven. "She's returning. Go."

Raven nodded and placed her hand on the hilt of her blade. She used her thumb to spin the dust container to the correct spot, then slashed out with the weapon. This opened a corridor of darkness in the fabric of reality, the gaping hole leading out into the rest of Remnant. "I'll return as soon as I'm done," she promised the headmaster, then she jumped through the red and black glowing hole, sealing it shut behind her and leaving Ozpin alone in his chains.

"I hope so," Ozpin muttered to himself, fighting off the very real despair the Grimmlands were trying to impose on his Heart. He took a deep breath and composed his form to look more like that of an increasingly hopeless prisoner, slumping his shoulders and gazing at the stone ground. He thought of Jaune Arc's Dive and frowned. He had such hopes for that boy and his potential as a Huntsman. If he were to fall, the consequences would definitely be catastrophic. Ozpin hoped that alerting Qrow, Glynda, and the others to his survival he may be able to use them to prevent that.

Of course, any prevention would likely be moot if the children somehow made their way into Salem's domain. They were already following Cinder and Xehanort, and Ozpin had little doubt that they were not ready to truly defeat the Darkness. They were strong, true, and brave indeed. But for all his mocking, all of his bravado when faced with Salem, Ozpin knew that they were still fractured. Ruby's closest friends had all abandoned her, while Team JNPR was still one warrior short of being complete. Even with Sora, who was indeed an incredibly powerful Keyblade Wielder, their chances of success were slim. Sora himself showed just as much promise as Ozpin's own students, but he was not at the same level of true masters. Xehanort would easily defeat the boy if it came down to a battle for real survival, of that Ozpin was sure.

"Oh, Oz, are you trying to figure a way out of this?" Salem said, appearing beside him. She clutched his face with her incredibly pale hand and lifted him up by the throat. "Adorable. I can't wait to see what little game you have planned."

"Why is a Keyblade Master here?" Ozpin asked, struggling through the grip on his throat. "How did they get here?"

"Oh, I get to ask the questions, Ozpin," she responded, dropping him and turning away. She took a few steps before stopping. When she looked at him again, her red eyes were glowing evilly. "Tell me, just what do you think to accomplish by sending your little spy to tell everyone you're alive?"

Ozpin froze, not even breathing. "No response?" Salem asked, approaching the headmaster. She grinned and gripped his throat again. "Well?"

"How long?" he finally asked, staring into Salem's dark eyes. "When did you know?"

"Oh... When didn't I, Oz?" she asked, shooting him a toothy, cruel grin. "When _didn't_ I?"


	9. Menagerie

**AN: I forgot to switch out a placeholder name I had for Jaune's dad last chapter, and I noticed a few days after posting. So if you haven't seen that yet, it was changed from 'Blaic' to 'Argent' to fit more with the French naming convention for Jaune and the color I had planned for his Aura.**

 _ **Chapter 9: Menagerie**_

The cruise ship landed on Menagerie almost a week from its final destination of Haven Academy. Some minor repairs were needed for the ship to make the final leg of the journey, so the passengers had been sent out to explore and appreciate the island for the next few days. Menagerie's main attraction was the large, multi-ecosystem animal preserve that covered most of the island, which was so far the only place on the world's surface that was free of Grimm, mostly due to the very low level of human population on the island. In fact, that was why the island was named Menagerie – because it really _was_ a Menagerie. A place where the animals who had once populated all of Remnant could recover from the brutal war between the Faunus and Humans almost three generations prior, a place where their numbers had almost recovered. The plans were to begin reintroducing them in a couple decades, but keeping a few on the island for both a backup plan and for the added benefit of scientific study on why the creatures were not actively sought after by the Grimm.

Sora was thoroughly enjoying himself as they explored the huge wildlife preserve, staring at the animals that ran around beneath with wide eyes. He was especially excited when their vehicle began passing through the area comprised of a frozen tundra. What could he say? You don't see many frozen creatures on a world almost entirely covered in tropical waters. He grimaced internally. He _really_ couldn't say that. "And what's that thing called!?" he asked, pointing excitedly out of the window every few minutes.

"That's a penguin," Ren explained. His was the only face that wasn't pressed hard against the glass to stare out, instead being the one to glance out over his friends heads to answer Sora's many questions. And calm Nora's ever growing – occasionally explosively dangerous – excitement. "A small, flightless bird that travels between the small islands dotting the south pole of Remnant."

"And that?" Sora asked, just as excited. He was pointing, now, out of the other side of the vehicle, past the low power Dust barrier separating the frozen regions of animals once from the far North and those from the South pole. "What is that white bear!?"

"It's a polar bear," Ren said as he glanced over Sora's spiky hair. The animal was lumbering around, a pair of smaller white balls of fur bouncing around between its legs.

"EEEEEEEK!" Nora shrieked, causing the entire cabin to flinch at the sudden, earsplitting noise. Sora and the others slammed their hands over their ears, trying to block out Nora's intense scream. "BABIES! I wanna I wanna I wanna I wanna!"

"Nora!" Ruby cried out. "Too loud!"

The berserker clapped a hound over her mouth and laughed sheepishly. "Oops," she muttered, removing her hand and grinning at her oldest friend. "But seriously, Ren! I want one!"

"I don't think that'll happen," Ruby said dryly.

"You have Zwei!" the ginger whined.

"He's a dog, not a thousand pound machine of blubber and muscle!" Jaune protested, knowing that he would eventually have to help clean and care for the beast. The idea of cleaning up dozens of pounds of digested seal was not an appealing one to the young man. "You can't have a polar bear as a pet!"

"And why _not_?" Nora asked, leveling a narrow eyed, argumentative stare at her team's leader. She pushed away from the glass and took a step towards him. Jaune took a step back, laughing nervously. "I want one."

Jaune sighed and decided to just let Nora have it and hope she forgot about it. "Okay. Well, if they'll let you -"

"Jaune, if you let her, she'll find a way," Ren cut in, shaking his head. He turned to the indignant Nora. "Nora... we're going to be traveling in a tropical area from here on. That would hurt it."

The berserker sighed. "Fine," she muttered angrily. She pointed at Ren. "But after all of this is over, I will have one. No two! No TWENTY!."

"I'll even help you get them," Ren said, earning a wildly happy smile from Nora. His eyes widened imperceptibly, only enough for the teasing smiles of Sora, Ruby, and Jaune to erupt. He scowled at the grins of his friends and decided to change the topic by pointing outside. "For now, we're crossing the Dust shield into the Tropical region." The energy of the shield fizzled and hissed against the metal of the carrier, the shield being stretched and rendered partially inert by the sudden presence of the Dust-resistant metal. The guides had said the shield was powerful enough to knock any animal out if they came into contact with it, a good way of keeping certain predators from devouring the other denizens of the island into oblivion.

"Does anyone else think that this is a really weird setup?" Ruby asked, pointing towards the jungle and then towards the tundra. "Like, why would these areas be next to each other?" The question remained unanswered.

Sora and the others yelped as a small, brown creature slammed into the window and yelled at them, grabbing a rung on the outside of the ATV and kicking the window. Sora grinned as he recognized the small creature. It looked just like a monkey that had followed him and Tarzan around forever ago. It cocked its head to the side and grunted excitedly at the children who all leaned in. Ruby tapped against the window and the small creature followed her fingers to kick the same spot as she tapped. It slid around, gripping the rung with its tail and dangling. It shrieked and made a face that caused the warriors to laugh.

Then, from outside of the vehicle, they heard a scream. They froze, unsure if they had actually heard what they thought they had heard. "Did you guys hear that, too?" Sora asked nervously, all the while listening as closely as he could for the noise. They all slowly nodded, and all of them turned to look out the window again. Finally: "Ren open the door."

There was another scream, this one communicating the noise of even more pain and suffering. "Now!" Ruby shouted, already grabbing her scythe from her back. Ren nodded and jumped towards the front of the vehicle, using the blades on his guns to tear open a hatch. He then pointed the weapons directly into the machinery. Unleashing a barrage of Dust bullets, Ren watched as sparks flew out of the hatch. The vehicle seemed to scream in pain as its autopilot was disengaged and it began to slowly grind to a halt. The cabin flashed red. Ruby ignored it and tried to open the door; it didn't budge.

"Distress beacon," Ren muttered at the lights. He stood up and sheathed his weapons with a sigh. He shook his head at Ruby before gesturing at the door. "I'm sure the doors locked down when it activated. Which means that we are stuck." Ren then pointed over at the fuming Nora, his challenge issued.

"WHAT!? You think we're stuck in here?!" Nora shouted, shoving past Ren and grabbing the still live wire. Electricity began coursing up her arm and into her body, the young woman laughing excitedly as her Aura absorbed the energy and channeled it right into her muscles. After a few seconds, she let go of the wire and stomped over to the door, the floor beneath her every step bending in to the shape of her boot print. "We are never stuck, not when we have the Incredible Nora!" She lashed out with her right leg, the massive force of the blow slamming into the hatch. Metal creaked against metal for a moment, then her foot and body edged forward again and the door flew off of the ATV, soaring out of the tree canopy. There was a sharp, electrical crash as it slammed into one of the Dust-based force fields. She jumped out of the ATV and roared at the sky. "Nora smash!"

Sora glanced over at Ren. "You two have to make the oddest couple," he muttered, much to Ren's quiet chagrin. Sora grinned sheepishly. "Pair. The oddest pair." Ren's face didn't change, but Sora _thought_ he seemed less annoyed.

Ruby jumped out after Nora and immediately drew her scythe. "Someone should stay here to tell the authorities why and where we went," Ruby said, turning around to slam the base of her scythe into the ground.

Jaune nodded. "Right. Me. I guess that would be me," Jaune said, wiping sweat from his brow. He was relieved, given the intense heat present in the jungle outside. "I'll stay here in the air conditioned, easily defensible, metal box. With the refrigerator and snacks."

"There are snacks?" Sora asked, indignant that he had not been told. He turned to see Ruby's unamused stare and he laughed sheepishly. "Right. I'll eat later. For now, the real problems. Let's go."

Ren jumped out of the ATV, his outfit camouflaging him ever so slightly in with the surrounding forest. He drew StormFlower and flourished them before letting them rest in his palms. He turned around to salute Jaune. "We'll be back soon," he told the Knight.

"With someone else in tow," Jaune replied, smiling confidently. "Go."

Sora nodded and gestured for Ruby, Nora, and Ren to follow. "Let's move!" he shouted, his hand glowing a bright magenta. The surrounding foliage responded, it too beginning to glow the same shade. He waited for the others to pass him, then jumped forward, grabbing hold of them and landing atop a branch. With a concentrated effort of magic, the four began to fly forward at intense speeds.

Jaune just watched, shaking his head at himself. "Why am I even surprised?" he asked himself as he walked back into the ATV. He drew his sword and sat down in the chair closest to the now gaping hole in the hull. "Why am I _ever_ surprised?"

 ** _R W B Y_**

Sora whooped excitedly as he neared the coast, clutching his friends on either arm as he bounced from tree to magenta-glow covered tree. Ren, Ruby, and Nora were meanwhile holding onto his arms for dear life, simultaneously terrified and filled with adrenaline pumping excitement as the air rushed through their hair. "This is so amazing!" Ruby screamed, her cloak flapping like a flag in a storm on her back.

"Faster!" Nora screamed from beside Ruby, her voice echoing through the jungle to meld with the shrieking of the animals deep in the jungle

Sora laughed and obliged the young woman, dashing between the walls of trees at lightning speeds. He wished that Tarzan could see him now, swinging through the jungle like they had so long ago. Sora grabbed a vine and swung along it, screaming out Tarzan's battle cry as he let go at the top of the arc. The group soared up, poking out above the canopy of the trees for a moment. The entire group screamed in a combination of fear and elation as they dropped beneath the leaves again, terrifying a group of monkeys lounging on a tree as they passed back down. "Sorry!" Sora shouted, landing against a glowing wall of the trees and quickly rebounding to the other side.

He threw his legs before him, getting ready to land on the outstretched branch of another tree. As he got close, however, the tree suddenly flew towards them and the four were sent tumbling apart. Sora and Ren flew through the air together in one direction as the massive tree fell to the ground. "Oof!" Sora cried out when he hit the ground, harder than he would have liked as he tried to keep Ren from smashing against the ground and dying. The two rolled painfully across the ground before sliding to a stop.

Sora looked up, dazed for a moment. That confusion quickly disappeared when he saw what was coming. "Look out!" He grabbed Ren's arm and jumped away, barely pulling the two of them out of the path of the falling tree. The blast of air that resulted threw the two young men even further, crashing into the trees off of their small path. He groaned and summoned the Keyblade back to his hand, shooting out a quick Cure to heal him and Ren. "Ruby! Nora!"

"We're okay!" they called from the other side of the tree. Ruby ran up to it and peaked over the top. "Guys, are you -" She was cut off by a scream that came from behind her. The person they were looking for. She glanced over her shoulder just as another scream echoed from behind Sora and Ren.

"This has to be a trap," Ren remarked dryly. He glanced between Sora and the girls. "But we have no choice. If there is the possibility someone is in danger, we must try and fulfill our duty as Huntsmen."

"He's right," Ruby said, glancing over her shoulder again. She returned her gaze to Sora and Ren. "Nora and I will take this way. You take the other."

Sora nodded in agreement and turned to leave, only to stop and think better of it. He smiled at Ruby. "Be careful, okay?" he said, still grinning.

"Only if you are, too," she said, beaming right back at him.

"When aren't I?" he asked, shrugging before turning and running into the jungle with Ren.

"When _are_ you?" Ren inquired dryly. He caught Nora's gaze and smiled at her, the smile he saved only for her before drawing StormFlower and taking off after the young Keyblade wielder. He silently cast his own words towards the fearless berserker: _You be careful too, Nora_.

Ren quickly caught up with Sora, the Keyblade wielder having slowed down slightly for the other boy to catch up. "So who do you think is waiting for us?" Sora asked Ren, glancing over as he vaulted over a root that had grown out of the ground.

Ren shook his head, signifying he did not know either. "The only enemies we have that I could think of that have the resources are dead or in prison," Ren explained, letting himself roll over the next tree trunk and landing at a full speed run.

"And this isn't Xehanort's style," Sora said. He flipped over the next tree trunk and landed quietly. "Though he'd certainly get someone else to try something like this." Sora frowned, remembering all the Darkness that the old man had spread throughout the World over the past few years. Entire worlds nearly destroyed by those Xehanort had manipulated and controlled. Ansem the Wise's apprentices, Terra, Ven, Maleficent, Riku, the first Organization XIII. He had constantly found new people to control and use to do the evil he deemed too small for his own hands.

"Then perhaps this trap was not meant specifically for us," Ren noted.

Sora frowned, feeling in his gut that wasn't quite right. Still: "Maybe," he said, trying to understand why he didn't agree; it only made sense, after all, for this to just be a random trap. But no random person would be able to just break out of those vehicles or think it was a good idea to run around in a jungle full of dangerous animals, right? "Maybe not. We'll find out, soon though."

They stopped when another scream suddenly rang out to their right, in the direction of the coastline. Sora and Ren nodded at one another, then sprinted off towards the source of the noise, sure that Ruby and Nora had also received a similar scream across the jungle. Ren approached the treeline a few steps ahead of Sora, breaking through to the coast and skidding to a stop in the sand. "Oh. Yes, this was definitely aimed at us," he muttered as Sora broke through and skidded to a stop beside him.

"What makes you say-" Ren just poked Sora's shoulder and pointed up. Sora followed the gesture towards the burnt, scowling snarl of the one trying to trap them. The man was standing on top of a large, Atlesian mech similar to the ones team RWBY had fought off at the end of their first year. He wore a black suit and pants with a white shirt. His black gloves were a shade lighter and a sheen shinier than the suit itself. He wore a scarlet tie and matching scarlet glasses. Hair and flesh was twisted from the bottom left of his scalp, down the side of his face and beneath his clothes.

"Well, well," Junior Xiong snarled, venom dripping from his voice as he stared down at Sora and Ren. A small squadron of smaller, remote support droids erupted from the back of the large mech and advanced with guns raised towards Sora and Ren. His voice was raspier than before, like it had also been burnt. "Finally a lucky break."

Sora raised the Keyblade in front of him and laughed. "Well, at least it's only you!" he shouted.

"Sora..." Ren warned, taking a few steps back.

"I mean, I was worried for a moment," Sora said, grinning excitedly now. He didn't even notice the small droids advancing on them with intent to kill. He let the Keyblade fall onto his shoulder and he pointed directly up at Junior. "But you? No offense, but I was expecting someone actually dangerous."

"Insolent little brat," the man snarled, entering the mech and letting its cockpit shut above him. When his voice came out, it was heavily filtered giving it an even more burnt feel. "I'll show you who's dangerous! An explosion deserves an explosion!" With that, a barrage of missiles erupted from the back of the machine and flew at Sora. The kid just stood there despite Ren's insistence that he move.

Sora glanced over his shoulder as the missiles came close. "Ren, aren't you supposed to be the level headed one?" Sora asked, shooting a grin at the Huntsman before disappearing in an explosion.

"Sora!"

 ** _R W B Y_**

The two girls glared at Nora and Ruby, who were visibly – and almost insultingly – relieved that the trouble was only those two women. "And here I thought we might have to deal with Cinder or something like that," Ruby breathed in relief. She looked over at Nora, who had her hammer draped over her right shoulder. "It's almost like we shouldn't have even been worried."

"I know! We were scared we'd have to deal with Xehanort, but we only get the Malachite twins!" Nora laughed, earning a ridiculously angry glare from the twins. Then Nora looked down morosely. "I'm almost disappointed."

"Right?" Ruby agreed. She sighed and twirled Crescent Rose until it was a scythe, blade hovering just above the ground in front of her. "I guess we should deal with this, then go look for Sora and Ren."

"You mean your boyfriends?" one of the twins asked, earning rushed half-protestations from the two Huntresses. "The boss should be able to deal with them. He has one of those Atlesian Mechs, after all."

Ruby grinned and raised Crescent Rose so that its muzzle was pointed away from the twins. "Just one?" she asked. She glanced over to Nora. "Well, at least it can be a more even race to see who will win first."

"We won't take it easy on you this time," the other twin snarled, her feathered clothes bouncing as she moved. She took a step forward and growled. "You're done for."

"Doubt it," Ruby said, returning her gaze to the twins and narrowing her eyes. "Nora, I'll take the one in red. I thought our last encounter would show her to not rip off my style."

"It was my style first!" the twin snapped, running towards Ruby. The Huntress smiled confidently at that and fired off Crescent Rose, the noise terrifying animals in the nearby jungle. The two met a few moments later, scythe crashing against the bladed claws of the Malachite twin. The strength of the attack quickly sent the Malachite stumbling backwards to receive a blow to her head from the tail end of Ruby's scythe which quickly turned into a rapid fire onslaught of slashes that the young, silver eyed warrior continued to unleash. No matter what the other woman tried to do, she couldn't escape the ceaseless onslaught of Ruby's scythe slamming into her from every direction.

Nora was doing just as well as Ruby, her hammer and massive strength crushing any defense her enemy could put up. Her hammer came down in arcs containing massive power, each one a block that collided directly with the incoming kick of the Malachite twin. Each moment of contact jarred the twin, sending her other foot a few inches deeper into the sand. With a bit of effort, she brought her leg out and around to slam into Nora's skull, only to be surprised when the blow collided with the girl's left arm. Nora grinned massively, grenade launcher in hand. Her eye twitched from sheer excitement. "Boom," she whispered before giggling. Her finger pulled back on the trigger, causing the Malachite twin's eyes to widen before a massive explosion sent her crashing into her sister.

"Fine. Let's go all out, then, Sis," the one in red grumbled as she forced herself to her feet.

"Fine, Miltia," the one in white agreed, standing up and clasping hands with her twin. "It's been a long time, huh?"

"Too long," Miltia agreed as the two began to glow, the two activating their Semblances. _Or Semblance, singular,_ Ruby noted, holding off on geeking out about a joint Semblance.

"Now, how do you feel about their odds now, Melanie?" Miltia asked, letting go of her sister's hand.

"I don't think they've got a chance," she responded.

"Oh my gosh. Did you guys just summon a dragon? A genie!? A _FAIRY!?_ " Nora screamed excitedly.

"What? No!" one of the twins said. "Look around, you stupid bimbo!"

Ruby chuckled and tapped Nora's shoulder. "Um. Nora," she said. The hammer wielder looked up and grunted in surprise. The two were surrounded by a small army comprised of copies of the Malachite twins.

"Yay!" Nora shouted, raising her weapon to become a hammer once again. She shot a grin at the army of twins that made them all shiver in fear. "More targets to hit!"

Ruby grimaced at the Malachite twins. "I think you might want to run," she noted, gesturing with her thumb at Nora. "She hasn't hit the scariest level of Nora yet."

"Do you want to see that?" Nora asked the scythe wielder excitedly. Ruby shook her head quickly and raised her hands near her face in fear, all while trying to dissuade Nora. "You do!? Then leave this to me!"

"Oh no," Ruby muttered, thinking back on the half-stories Ren had told her so far.

Nora jumped ahead, screaming bloody murder as she swung her hammer around. The head of the weapon caught a half dozen of the clones in the first couple seconds, causing the clones to explode in clouds of feathers as the hammer continued in its path. Nora laughed wildly and continued her attack, her weapon effortlessly brushing aside any of the clones that attempted to get in her way.

Ruby raised her hand to say something, then shook her head and deactivated Crescent Rose, knowing interfering at that moment would be completely pointless. Besides, she felt bad for the twins at that point, seeing how brutally Nora was tearing through them. It wouldn't be cool to _completely_ embarrass them. "Only pancakes could make this moment better!" Nora screamed as she shifted her weapon to its grenade launcher mode and feather-ized an entire group of twins in an explosion of pink Dust grenades.

"Pancakes?" one of the Miltia clones asked before disappearing under the weight of Nora's hammer.

"I don't quite get it either," Ruby said with a shrug. Nora laughed, ignoring the Huntress and slamming her hammer into the ground, pulverizing a small wave of clones around her in the resultant shockwave.

Ruby grimaced as the destruction continued. "Ouch," she groaned as Nora dashed across her line of sight. She winced sympathetically as the carnage continued. "Oh. I am... I am so sorry." There was an explosion. "Ugh... Dust..."

Nora was panting excitedly above the twitching, unconscious forms of Melanie and Miltia Malachite, her hammer heaving up and down in her right hand with every breath. "So... I think I heard someone say something about pancakes?" Nora asked, turning to look at Ruby.

"Um... that was you," Ruby responded.

"Ah! So it was a good idea!" Nora shouted, grinning at Ruby. She frowned. "We should probably find Sora and Ren first. But then... Pancakes!"

Ruby just stared at the hammer wielder with wide eyes. Finally, partially understanding just what Ren had spent his entire life around, Ruby could only nod slowly and have the deepest respect for the usually silent warrior. "Hooray!" Nora shouted.

 ** _R W B Y_**

"Sora!" Ren jumped forward, one hand extended towards the smoky pillar that now extended upward from where Sora had been standing. The Huntsman breathed heavily, trying to convince himself that the Keyblade wielder had survived worse – _much_ worse. But whenever that thought ran through his mind, the more logical center of his mind reminded him there were few fully trained Huntsmen who could survive a direct attack from those missiles.

"I guess he wasn't so tough, then," Junior spat, his Mech stomping and turning towards the stunned Ren. He sighed. "I guess one more death and we'll be done. Sorry, kid, but you crossed me. If there's one thing I learned from Goldilocks, it's that letting that happen never ends well. As my face can attest."

"True," a third person said from within the smoke.

"No..." the mech's pilot muttered, lumbering back to stare at the smoke.

He was greeted by the image of a completely unharmed, grinning Sora who had his Keyblade slung over his shoulder. "Packed a little more punch than I thought. Good job, Junior," Sora said earnestly, shifting his Keyblade back into an attack stance. He looked around at the droids that were vainly trying to process his survival, then let his gaze drift to the stunned Ren. "Ready to have a little fun?"

Ren tried to say something, but nothing came out. Instead, he nodded and raised StormFlower to a ready position. "Then let's try something really fun!" Sora shouted gleefully, swinging the Keyblade out to his side. There was a bright flash for a moment and his Keyblade disappeared, replaced in both hands by a pair of gold and white guns, one of which had the same chain hanging from it as Sora's Kingdom Key. "Go!"

Ren didn't quite understand what happened. It was as if he and Sora began acting on powerful instinct, the world outside of their enemies becoming fuzzy. Sora and Ren ran towards each other, firing off in every direction. Sora's twin weapons launched large orbs of fire that collided with the Dust bullets coming from StormFlower. Some of the balls of energy floated into the droid, causing the synthetics to explode suddenly. Some of the others, however, remained where they were as Sora and Ren approached one another.

When they got close, Sora and Ren twisted around to collide back to back with one another, weapons aimed out to both sides. They fired off, slowly moving their weapons as they did to complete the circle of destruction. Then they jumped at the same time, spinning and causing the surrounding projectiles to follow them in a whirlwind that sucked in the droids and mech. Sora's hand began to glow a bright magenta, and the two warriors began to glow similarly. They disappeared and reappeared suddenly, dashing between different droids and firing into their bodies causing explosions as they jumped away to destroy another.

As the last droid exploded, they both appeared above the floating mech and landing on top of it. Sora's Keyblade reformed in his hand, and the two began running across the surface of the mech, slashing through its joints with their weapons one by one. They dashed together above the entry hatch to the cockpit, guns raised again. Together they fired off for a few minutes into the hatch door pounding it in bit by bit until the door exploded. Then, as one, they flipped away, firing off into the hatch continuously until the machine groaned from the intense heat and damage of their attacks.

Suddenly, the mech gave in. It exploded massively, and the world seemed to return to normal. Ren blinked as he landed beside Sora, whose blasters were held up. "That was great!" Sora shouted, turning around and slapping his arm around Ren's shoulder. "Awesome, right!"

"Um," Ren began. He jumped in surprise as the remains of the mech slammed into the ground around them, smoking from the intense heat of their assault. There was a loud scream for a while as Junior fell from the sky before slamming into the sand with a thud.

Sora looked down at the criminal for a moment, then saw the man's shoulders heave up in a breath. "Good. He's alive," Sora said, arm still around Ren's shoulder. He looked over at the Huntsman, still grinning. "Great, right?"

"Um... what just happened?" Ren asked dumbly. "How did we... do that?"

"Magic," Sora replied simply, slapping Ren's back with his suddenly empty hand. "Now, we should probably go see how Nora and Ruby are doing? Oh! After we arrest this guy." He summoned the Keyblade back to his hand and pointed it at Junior. "Stopga!" The man froze suddenly, and Sora walked over to throw the criminal over his shoulder before turning to Ren again. "Hm... I feel like eating some pancakes, don't you?"

Ren sighed and placed his weapons on his belt. "Why not?" he asked with a shrug. "Nora will be happy at least."

 ** _R W B Y_**

As Nora and Sora chowed excitedly down on the pancakes in front of them, the group prepared to talk about what had happened. "I'm just saying, it doesn't make any sense," Jaune muttered. He shook his head. "Junior? How the heck would he get his hands on hardware like an Atlesian mech?"

"It is troubling," Ren agreed over the manners-less devouring of pancakes by Sora and Nora. He placed one hand on his chin. "He was, despite his attempts at become something more, a mere bit player in crime, in Vale and especially Remnant as a whole. Someone else must have been behind this."

"Xehanort?" Ruby asked Sora.

The Keyblade wielder nearly choked on the pancakes inside his mouth, dropping his fork and slamming his fist against his chest as he sputtered. As the coughs died down he grimaced. "I was worried about the same thing," he admitted, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. His face fell to a frown as he thought about it. "It's certainly his style, that's for sure. But that's not what I'm most worried about. I mean, I've been wondering why he hasn't just... teleported where he wants to go."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked, intrigued.

"He could just appear where he wants to go. Anywhere, at any time. You saw it during the fight, his Corridors of Darkness? Well, why hasn't he?" Sora asked, leaning forward and pushing his pancakes away. Nora watched him do it, staring for a moment, then quietly stole the plate. Sora ignored it and continued speaking. "He never does _anything_ without a reason. So he's waiting for us, for some reason."

"You mentioned that he steals people's bodies?" Ruby asked after a short silence.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Right now, he's dealing with the only body he could get." Sora thought back on the Replica he had created of his own, younger self's form. "But it's falling apart. Which means he wants one of _us_."

Jaune coughed nervously. "Um... us?" he asked, chuckling quietly. He pointed between himself and the rest of them. "Um... Like _us_ us?"

"Yeah," Sora replied, frowning worriedly. "Ideally, it will be someone who has the potential to use the Keyblade."

"So he's after you?"

Sora shook his head. "No, he's tried that and failed. Twice," Sora said, assuaging his friends' fears.

"But, then... there's no one else," Ruby exclaimed. "So then... why? Why follow us?"

"Because not every Keyblade wielder knows they can use the Keyblade," Sora explained, glancing around at all of them. He shrugged and leaned back with hands behind his head once again. "Riku and Kairi didn't even figure it out for eleven years."

Jaune and Ruby grinned excitedly. "So you're saying... one us is a Keyblade wielder?" Ruby asked, her eyes shining brighter than the Light Magic they held and larger than Goofy's shield. She was basically salivating at the mere thought of it. Her hands, clenched into excited fists beside her face, vibrated back and forth. "Squeeeeee!"

"Or more," Sora supplied. He glanced between them all then shook his head. "But as for the who? I don't know. It could be any of you. It could be none of you. Xehanort knows things most people would never guess. Whatever the truth is, I won't let you guys down. I won't let him take _any_ of you, no matter what." Sora's eyes continued moving to land on Ren. The warrior was strong and smart. He reminded Sora of a less confrontational and a lot less angry Donald in that way. Also like Donald, Ren was not the hero of his own story. He was the support for Jaune when he needed it most.

He caught sight, next, of Nora out of the corner of his eye. She was basically inhaling the food at the table by that point, making even Sora wonder if she was a bottomless pit when it came to pancakes. She was just as strong of Heart as her closest friend, with a hidden cleverness to boot. It wasn't quite as sharp as Ren's, but she wasn't a fool. Like Goofy, she was surprisingly smart at times, despite appearing less intelligent than her partner. But again like Ren, she was not of the caliber of a Keyblade wielder.

His eyes settled next on Jaune; the parallels between the young man and Riku and Terra were obvious even to him. But just like them, the young Huntsman was a good person at Heart. He'd never let the Darkness take him, not without a fight. At the end of the day, Jaune was a good person who wanted to do the right thing, even if it was hard. Sora knew from personal experience that bright Lights could cast the heaviest Darknesses, which is likely what would attract Xehanort. Light would always win out in the end, though. He maybe had the Heart to be a Keyblade wielder, if the Darkness he'd seen during their fight with Xehanort had been any indication, or the light the Huntsman had demonstrated in his battle with his own Darkside during the Dive.

Finally, Sora let his eyes fall on Ruby Rose. He smiled as they did. She was special, Sora knew. Her innate skill with Light Magic that came from her Silver Eyed heritage was enough of a testament to that. That alone was enough to make Sora wonder if she was a Keyblade's candidate, as he had only ever seen Keyblade wielders or future Keyblade wielders use Light Magic to any real extent without being trained to use it. Besides that, though, she had the same determination to help everyone that Sora and all his friends from Destiny Islands had discovered when they'd found out about the Keyblades and Heartless. He bet she'd get along great with Kairi once they met; they were both really good people with pure Hearts. And Sora liked them both, so he was sure they'd be great friends!

"Uh, Remnant to Sora. Come in Sora," Jaune said, waving his hand in front of the Keyblade wielder's face. "You've been staring at Ruby for like five minutes."

That snapped the Keyblade wielder out of his thoughts. "I – uh, sorry!" he said, his voice cracking on the last word. This drew a steady stream of laughter from the others at the table, which in turn caused the Keyblade wielder's blush to deepen. "I was just thinking about, uh, how much you guys will like all my friends! Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy. You guys will get along great... once they finally decide to try and find me. And Kairi calls me a 'Lazy Bum!'"

Ruby nodded. "If they're your friends, I bet they'll be ours no problem!" she responded, shooting the Keyblade wielder a soft smile. She couldn't help but be happy if he was happy. Her smile made Sora's smile widen.

"Again? Dust. I need to break this up before it gets any more awkward," Jaune said, glancing between the two warriors who were smiling at each other even still. He looked over at Ren with a sad, sacrificial frown.

"No," the usually silent warrior begged, going along with the joke.

"I am so, _so_ sorry," the Knight muttered, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. "But sometimes, sacrifices must be made for the greater good, Ren. I must make that sacrifice to lessen the awkwardness at the table."

"Oh, just let them think we don't notice," Nora giggled.

"No can do," Jaune said, closing his eyes for a moment. He opened them and stared into his teammate's eyes. "Lady. Ren-tleman -"

"Lame," Nora interjected, holding up one finger and pointing it disapprovingly at her team leader.

"It's been an honor," Jaune finished. He pulled out his scroll and sighed deeply before pulling up an image he had decided to usually keep to himself – him, in a white dress. He sighed once more before sticking it between Sora and Ruby. "Look, it's me in a dress!"

"AGH!" Sora screamed, his chair tipping backwards as he jumped away. He crashed loudly into the ground and groaned, clutching his bruised skull. He shivered, a chill running down his spine for a moment as he was assaulted by memories of a similar story. "Ugh, I'm having Cloud flashbacks..."

 ** _R W B Y_**

The streets of Vale were silent in the middle of the night, recent events having forced the Kingdom to institute different laws and curfews for the safety of its people. In fact, the only people who were still outside of their homes at that unceremoniously late hour were those who had been assigned by the council to patrol the sleeping city to guard those building the defense wall around Beacon Academy or to patrol the streets of the city for the rare, wandering Grimm. Neither job was glamorous, and neither was par with the level of skill that Glynda Goodwitch had spent her entire life honing since her time in Beacon had ended. Nevertheless, it was the job she had been given and the job that would protect the people of Vale the best. Therefore, it was her duty and privilege to do that job. No matter how mind numbingly boring it sometimes became.

She walked down the center of a dimly lit street, riding crop swaying with her hand as she marched along. She glanced around the street as occasional noises punctuated the dark silence, echoing through the empty city scape. Her cape floated behind her like an ethereal purple and black cloud, drifting in the wind. The twirling tails of the cloth gave it the appearance of a flame flying from its main body before dying out and being replaced. The imagery was even more fitting in the blackness of the night.

She stopped when she heard a noise behind her, and turned on her heel. Her riding crop shot up and remained aimed at the source of the noise, whatever it could be. Glynda narrowed her eyes behind her glasses and advanced slowly into the darkness, ready for anything that may come. She moved much more silently and much more quickly than her frame and choice of clothing suggested, appearing at the origin of the noise in a few short moments without making even a single noise. She raised the crop across her body and over her right shoulder, preparing an incredibly powerful burst of telekinesis for the person who thought they could sneak up on her. Unfortunately, there was nothing there.

She turned almost before the noise began, swinging the riding crop around moments in front of her in the arc and sending the form in the darkness flying down the street with a powerful punch of her Semblance. The figure soared through the air for a moment, an uncoordinated heap of cloth and flesh, before flipping midair and landing silently. It stood up slowly, patting off its shoulders and revealing its feminine form. Red eyes glared out from beneath an inhuman mask and there was a gleaming set of dust containers at her hip. Glynda knew that a duel with this warrior would cause far more destruction than she had the desire to deal with at the moment. Besides, they were allies... as far as Glynda knew. "Ah," Glynda said, lowering her weapon and placing her hand on her hip. "Raven Branwen. Apologies."

"Damn right," the elder – 'By two minutes!' her brother would often remind her in their youth – Branwen snapped. "I mean, really... Who attacks an ally?"

"First off: quiet down. You're nearly as loud as your brother," Goodwitch chastised, earning only a glare that could melt Grimm from the other Huntress. "Secondly: you should know better than to sneak up on a Huntress patrolling what was recently a war zone. Just as I've always said – you and your brother are more alike than either of you will say."

"Keep saying that," Raven growled, shoving her mask back to rest on the back of her head. She crossed her arms and glared at Glynda.

"Are you going to tell me why you are _here_ and not... wherever it is that Ozpin sent you?" Glynda asked, her voice ringing with irritation at the knowledge that Ozpin had not trusted her with everything.

"I'm getting to it," Rave said, holding out her hand, the clawed glove giving it a sharp and disturbing shadow. "First, I have... um... a question."

Glynda flinched in surprise. Was this one of the Branwen twins, member of Team STRQ of Beacon, one of the two most cocky and arrogant people on all of Remnant... nervous? "Yes, well... fine. What do you wish to know?"

Raven scratched her face absently and let her gaze shift slowly down and to the left. "I... er... that is..."

"Ugh, out with it," Glynda snapped, her riding crop snapping as well.

The noise seemed to break Raven's uncharacteristic nervous streak, and out came the words. "How are Tai and Yang?"

Glynda grew uncomfortably quiet. Raven did not know? That posed a... problem. Glynda considered the question for a moment, not from the lens of what she should do, but from the lens of what Ozpin would want her to do. Raven Branwen was an entirely too important piece in this war, if Ozpin's quiet warnings were to be believed. And they had not steered Glynda wrong ever before. He had hidden countless secrets so that his plans may succeed in defending Remnant. They had failed, of course, but still... On the other hand, there was no guarantee that Raven would abandon her duty to tend to her injured daughter. Such a thing would be vastly out of character for Raven Branwen, the woman having long ago eschewed her role as a mother and the maternal instinct that went with it in favor of seeking out ever greater power and excitement.

For a moment, Glynda considered how ironic it was that both Miss Xiao Long and Miss Rose would become more like their absentee parents than the one who had remained with them their entire lives. That thought, however, also reminded her that the woman indeed deserved the truth, no matter how much she had purposefully ignored her child in the past. "Taiyang Xiao Long was scheduled to resume duties as a Huntsman approximately four months ago. Events during the Vytal Festival have ensured he remain off the active duty list and instead act as a teacher at Signal Academy... often filling in for your brother, who deals with more... important issues. Taiyang is safe," Glynda finally explained, drawing a surprisingly warm and relieved look from the absentee mother.

Then Raven's face hardened. "And Yang?" she asked, crimson eyes flaring up much like her daughter's did when angered.

"Yang Xiao Long is alive and safe," Glynda replied. She frowned. "Though she did not escape the battle unscathed. It is reported the leader of the White Fang was the one responsible for her injuries – the loss of her right arm. And, subsequently, the loss of any will to fight for or protect the people of Remnant. While there is a standing offer from the Headmaster of Atlas Academy to help, she has repeatedly denied the request. He only keeps it open at this point because I explained Ozpin took a special interest in her team."

"Just as he did with STRQ," Raven muttered, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "That attention comes with freedom from rules, fights with the most dangerous creatures and people on Remnant, and becoming the greatest fighters in all of Remnant. And all at the price of either becoming an alcoholic or dead."

"Except Taiyang," Glynda noted.

Raven sighed and nodded, admitting the other woman was correct. "Except Tai," she muttered. The two were quiet for a long moment after that, just examining one another. Finally: "Pin is alive."

Glynda felt her knees go weak for a moment. Did she just say..? "Ozpin? Ozpin is alive?" she asked, eyes wide. She took a step back, a smile appearing on her usually stoic face. "This is... good news. Where is he? Why hasn't he -"

"Come back? Well, he's decided he's better off where he is," Raven explained with a shrug. She shut both her eyes.

"Which is?"

"A prisoner of the enemy," Raven stated, one eye drifting open to meet Glynda's gaze. As she took in Glynda's worried stare, she shook her head. "Says it's the best place to hear what they're planning without them filtering anything. As long as they think he's stuck there, they won't do anything about it."

"And this Xehanort fellow?" Glynda asked.

Raven's eyes shot open. "So you've met him, too?"

Glynda shook her head. "I haven't had the pleasure," she remarked. She raised an eyebrow. "Though, given the fear on your face I suppose that is a good thing. No, I merely met the boy in Miss Rose's company. Sora. Quite an intriguing young man -"

"I know of him," Raven stated, cutting off the other Huntress with a wave of her hand.

"Yes, I suppose you would." Glynda shrugged, arms crossed over her chest. "Your brother is... intrigued to say the least. Sora's abilities as a child almost outstrip even his own at the moment. With time, he could be key to defeating the enemy."

"Pin certainly believes Sora and Ruby are special," Raven agreed, cocking her head to the side and looking up at the sky. The shattered moon glistened far above, its slowly drifting remains filling the sky and blocking out the stars behind them.

"And you do not?" Glynda inquired.

Raven returned her gaze to Glynda. "I believe they need to be," Raven explained. She turned around and placed her hand on her blade's handle, readying to leave. "So, do you know where Qrow is then? I've been looking for him since Pin told me to find you all."

"The other Headmasters, Qrow, and myself?" Glynda clarified.

"Yeah. I saw Corrine and James already. You should have seen General Jimmy when he learned; his eyes basically exploded from his cyborg skull," the woman explained, laughing and earning a small smile in kind from the professor.

"Qrow was heading to Haven, last I heard. And I take it, then, that was to be your next stop regardless?" Glynda asked, tracing the path that the Huntress had taken.

"Don't try to figure out where Pin is," Raven said, sliding her mask back down to cover her face. "He wants to be there, remember?" Then Raven's arm and weapon slashed through the air, cutting apart reality. "Don't get killed, Glyn." Then the masked Huntress leaned sideways and fell through the portal. It hung in the air for a moment, its Darkness beckoning Glynda. The woman merely turned and walked away to continue her patrol, letting the portal slowly shut behind her. Her steps contained something whose presence only those who knew her best would even recognize: ecstatic joy at Ozpin's survival.


	10. Haven

**AN: Yay! We've made it to Haven! That means we get to start seeing how a certain golden haired Faunus and his Blue-haired flirt of a friend are doing.**

 **To Violet-the-Hero: Neo may show up when the group returns to Vale later on. However, Roman looked pretty dead when the Gryphon ate him, so I think he's out of the picture.**

 **Anyways, enjoy, and please leave a review if you like it!**

 _ **Chapter 10: Haven**_

"Finally!" Jaune cried, tumbling down the ramp from the cruise ship, face greener than Ren's shirt. He began to cry happily and tried to hug the ground. He nuzzled his head against the stone, drawing weird looks from the group of men and women exiting the boat after him. He sighed happily and just laid there for a moment. "Never again will I leave you..."

"But we don't know what's going to happen after we find whatever we need here," Sora whispered to Ruby. He grimaced and gestured over his shoulder. "And then, we have to get you guys _home_."

"Just let him have this," Ruby said, patting Sora's shoulder. "Jaune definitely doesn't want to think about another boat or Dragonfly ride right now."

Sora laughed. "Yeah. Good point," he said, grinning at her. He threw his hand over her shoulder. "I didn't think of that." He sputtered as he realized and tore his arm away, grinning nervously.

Ruby stammered just as nervously for a moment. "I, um... Thanks..." She held her hands up, encouraging Sora to look up. She took a deep breath to steady herself, then announced in a loud voice, trying to stave off any anxiety, "In other topics – here we are! Haven Academy, the best part of Mistral!"

Sora looked up and whistled at the awesome sight. The huge city-like school was truly impressive, created from gleaming white marble pillars and shining golden domes. It sat at the top of a huge hill, the buildings and stairs built right into the earth and the shining figures of ancient warriors towering above to act as silent sentinels for the students and Kingdom as a whole. "Um... wow," Sora whispered, eyes drifting from statue to gargantuan statue. One was of a man in an old time suit, a cane in his hands with his heels together as he faced out over the sea. Facing east was a woman with a large shield dressed in form fitting armor with a short sword aimed ahead over the top of the shield. Gazing towards the west was another woman, this one adorned in long robes and wielding a long staff tipped with a Dust crystal. The fourth was facing away from them, though Sora was sure it was just as impressive. All of them, also made of 100 percent pure marble. Above it all floated a circular Colosseum built from dozens of stacking arches, small white statues glittering in the alcoves as the sunlight passed over them.

"Haven Academy, the White Palace of Mistral," Ren said, walking up behind Sora and Ruby, Nora at his side. He crossed his arms and stared up at the marble facades staring compassionately out over the landscape. He began pointing at each of the huge figures in turn. "Guarded by the Pantheon, the four founders of the four academies. South for Beacon, East for Haven, North for Atlas, and West for Shade."

"That one kind of looks like Headmaster Ozpin," Ruby remarked, pointing up at the one staring above them. Sora studied the stoic, barely smiling face of the man. He had a messy mop of hair that dangled just into his eyes and a sharp, angular chin. Even in carving, his eyes and smirk gave him the look of a man who knew more than he let on; he reminded Sora more than a little of Yen Sid with that smirk.

"How long ago were the academies founded?" Sora asked, dragging his eyes away from the odly familiar statue. He began walking towards the academy with the others, helping Jaune to push himself to his feet, the Knight still thankful for his new safety from his crippling motion sickness.

"Eighty years, give or take," Jaune responded. Ren, Ruby, and Nora glanced at him in confusion. "Hey! I had to write like, six extra essays for Professor Port _and_ Professor – Doctor Oobleck first year. I know, for instance, Vale's academies have been led by members of Headmaster Ozpin's family since the start. That's his... I don't really know. His grandpa or maybe his great grandpa? The books didn't really give a specific answer for that one."

Ruby hummed in interest. "But he looks _exactly_ like Headmaster Ozpin," she muttered, beginning to frown. She shrugged after a few minutes of study, dismissing the oddities. "Hm... weird."

"Excuse me, what are you doing here?" a woman inquired, walking up to the exploring five kids. She had a pair of fox ears poking out from beneath her mane of orange hair that twitched while staring down at the children. She had eyes matching her hair that narrowed when they didn't answer immediately. "Well?"

Ruby took a breath to respond, then giggled nervously instead. Jaune piped up first, "Um... We're um..."

"They're here for the tournament," a familiar voice shouted dryly. Sora stumbled forward as a pair of arms wrapped around the entire group's shoulders and the slight smell of alcohol tinged the air. "Obviously!"

"T-tournament?" Ruby asked, glancing up at her uncle. "Uncle Qrow, what do -"

"To win, really," the Huntsman said, grinning down at the woman. "Imagine that, the heroes of the Beacon Academy incident claiming victory in the tournament meant to raise Lien for reopening Beacon. It's a regular redemption story! Crowds will go crazy for it! And I trained two of them, so it's really just a matter of time!"

"Qrow?" Sora asked. He turned to glance up at the Huntsman, who was still smiling drunkenly. "What are you -"

"Yep, my niece and this weirdo," he said with a grin, ruffling Sora's hair and causing the cutting off Sora's question before he could voice it. "Two of the best fighters I've ever seen. I'm sorry, but Haven won't stand a chance!"

The Faunus teacher glanced from the grinning Huntsman down to the confused students, then shot them a huge grin. "I highly doubt that our academy will flounder so spectacularly," the Faunus woman retorted, crossing her arms and glaring at Qrow with a grin of imminent victory. "Our teams have only gotten better in the past months." Then she walked away, eyes locked on Qrow over her shoulder. He shot her a flirty wave and look, causing her to blush and look away.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouted excitedly as the woman left, jumping up on her uncle and tackling the man to the ground. He groaned as he hit the floor, his niece basically choking him with a hug. "It's so good to see you! How was your trip? Did you fight anyone or see any cool weapons!?"

The Huntsman pushed himself to his feet, hugging the young woman back. "Hey, calm down, Ruby. We have all the time in the world to talk about this stuff," he said, peeling her off of him and placing her on the ground. He smiled down at her. "We do have a lot to... talk..." His gaze drifted up and his eyes widened in fear. "Um... just, meet me at sign up for the tournament in... three hours. We can talk about everything then. Pool our resources. I, er, saw an old friend I need to talk to." He glanced back down at Ruby and shot her a smile before waving the group goodbye and sprinting off.

"Well, suddenly all of Ruby make a lot more sense."

Ruby looked up and grinned. "Sun!" she shouted at the monkey Faunus dangling upside down from a street lamp. He had golden, layered hair that matched his tail to the shade. His white button up shirt was open and dangling behind his head. He uncrossed his legs, which were covered by blue jeans rolled up to the middle of his calf and fell to the ground, landing on his feet with only a slight jingle as the chain at his hip shook. He placed his red-armored gauntlets behind his head and grinned at the group. "It's so good to see you!"

"And it's great to see you too, Ruby," he said, jumping forward and hugging the four Beacon students. "Neptune'll be thrilled!" He let go of the group and turned to Sora. "Oh, and you got a boyfriend!"

"I, uh... that's Sora," Ruby muttered, her face turning bright red. She quickly pulled her hood up to hide the deep blush. She made a mental note to stop poking so much fun at Ren and Nora. "We are, that is we're..."

"We're, um... Just... friends," Sora finished, extending his hand to Sun. He chuckled nervously. "I've heard a lot about you! I like the chain."

"Really? Neptune keeps making fun of me for it," Sun said, grabbing it in his left hand while he shook Sora's with his right.

"Nah, I used to have one, too," Sora said, grinning at the Faunus as they let go of each other's hands. Sora laced his hands together behind his head. "Back on my home island, everyone had them!"

"I knew they'd be fast friends," Nora whispered happily to the rest of the Beacon group. "They're both so crazy and outgoing!"

"Nora, you _do_ hear the irony there, right?" Jaune whispered back at her. She just blinked back at him, non-plussed. The Huntsman sighed and shook his head, returning his attention to Sora and Sun, who were busy talking about Destiny islands.

"I definitely want to go there!" Sun said excitedly. He gazed up at the sky and sighed. "Swimming and tree climbing every day? And it sounds like they've got better choices in style than Mistral with its... suits. Ugh. I hate the uniforms so much!"

"Speaking of, where's yours?" Ruby asked. Pulling her hood down now that her blush had disappeared.

"Do you really think he dresses up for anything or anyone other than..." another person asked, jogging up and panting. He bent over and grasped his knees. He heaved a heavy breath, then stood straight and began to say a name, only for an angry glare from the Faunus to cut him off. "Well, you know who. Jeez, Sun, way to wait for me!"

"It's not my fault you're so slow, Neptune," the Faunus said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes at his friend.

"You _swam here_!" the other boy snapped. Sora looked over at him more closely. He was dressed the exact opposite of his friend, wearing a red, armored suit jacket with a button up and tie beneath it. A pair of yellow goggles were strapped around his forehead, just beneath his carefully prepared blue hair. Black, fingerless shooting gloves with large buckles were strapped around his wrists, which went with the silver laser rifle strapped over his back. His face grew deathly white and his eyes widened. "Y-you know I... um... don't like -"

"You're afraid of the water!" Sun shouted, arms raised. "Just say it, Man!"

"Dude!" Neptune hissed, waving at Sun to not shout it out for everyone to hear. "Come on! It's embarrassing enough that you know."

"I mean, you use a trident, you're named Neptune. Your parents are both expert swimmers -"

"Okay! I get it!" Neptune snapped, cutting off his friend's mocking. He took a breath and smoothed out his hair before turning to Sora. "Hi, I'm Neptune. Sun's cooler, and better dressed friend."

Sun sighed. "That's fair," he admitted quietly.

Sora raised an eyebrow, but took Neptune's hand anyways. The blue haired boy with his honest grin and the golden haired Faunus seemed to be good friends, despite their wildly differing styles and behaviors. "I'm Sora," he said, grinning back. "I'm a friend of Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren."

"How'd you guys meet?"

"It's not like th – oh," Ruby said, grinning and blushing as she did. The question had been directed at the _entire_ group. She coughed and straightened up, glancing between Neptune and Sun as she did. "Uh... We've got a _lot_ to talk about, guys."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Um... just, meet me at sign up for the tournament in... three hours. We can talk about everything then. Pool our resources. I, er, saw an old friend I need to talk to," Qrow narrowed his eyes before putting up a smile and glancing back down at his niece and her friends, then raised a hand and waved quickly before running through the group of kids and sprinting after a ghost. The woman tossed a red eyed glare over her shoulder, stopping for just a moment to do so, then turned away and walked away through the crowd. Qrow slowly advanced on the red and black armored Huntress, shoving his way through the crowd. When he finally broke through, however, she was nowhere to be seen.

Qrow groaned and reached into his jacket pocket, grabbing a flask that he opened with the ease of familiarity. "Goddammit, Rae," he snarled quietly before lifting the flask to take a deep drink of the whiskey.

"Do you want to repeat that?"

Qrow sputtered and nearly dropped the flask. His quick reflexes let him easily grab hold of it, though the rest of the alcohol spilled out from the open top as he did. "Ugh... No. Dammit, Rae, can't you ever just walk up and talk to someone?" he growled as the last of the alcohol dripped from his flask and onto the ground. He sighed and screwed it closed before crossing his arms and glaring at his twin. "And why does the great and wondrous Raven Branwen grace me with her presence today?"

"Do I need a reason to see my _least_ favorite brother?" she mocked back, placing one hand on her hip and smirking at Qrow.

"Generally, yes, you do need a reason to see your _only_ brother. Especially since you never even see the rest of the family," he retorted while putting away the flask in his jacket pocket again. "Let me guess, whatever big and important news you've got you already delivered to Glyn, Fuscia, Aride, _and_ Jimmy. You sure like to avoid me."

Raven scoffed and grabbed her brother's arm, dragging him away from the crowds. "Not so loud, Moron," she hissed as they stopped. She slapped the back of his head and he flinched playfully, bending his back and letting his shoulders hunch up. "And of course I went to see them first. They're not half as stupid as you can be."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess my hunt for Cinder and Xehanort, who by the way is _way_ worse than anything Ozpin told us, isn't worth your time," Qrow retorted, leaning in to sneer at his sister. He turned away from her and walked over to lean against a pillar. "Look, I'm sorry. I've just been busy, okay? Ever since Oz died, I've been looking after Ruby and this Sora kid. And I've been dealing with some loose ends he left for me in Vale."

"Oh, and how is Ruby's Keyboy?" she smirked.

Qrow narrowed his eyes, bringing a tense silence between the two. Soon, however, he began laughing. After a couple seconds, his sister joined in and laughed with her brother. Their similar peals of joy were stifled so that no one would hear and try to find them. "Like, get a room, right?" he asked, leaning forward and placing one hand on his sister's shoulder for support. She did the same, leaning against him so the two held each other up. The laughter continued, unabated, for a while.

Finally, they had to slow down. Qrow reached into his jacket, the other side this time, and pulled out another flask. He opened it and offered it to Raven. The black haired woman shrugged and took it, bringing it up to take a deep draught before handing it back to Qrow. He grinned and took an equally deep drink before putting it away again. "Okay, Rae. What the hell could it be that made you willing to come and talk to the family you've been avoiding like the Grimm for two decades? Wait, no. You spend _more_ time with the Grimm than with us."

"We're doing this again?" Raven asked, arms crossed and an angry eyebrow raised. "Come on, could you be any more predictable?" She held her hand out. "Cause if you are, I'm going to need another drink." Qrow scoffed and handed her the flask. She promptly drained it of its contents.

Qrow glared at her as she handed the empty flask back to him. "I only brought the two..." he whined.

"So you're cutting back?" Raven mocked, smirking at her brother.

"Shut up. What the hell is it you want to tell me, Rae?" Qrow snapped, screwing the top of the flask shut again and putting it away with a forlorn stare. "Why are you here?"

"You know, I almost don't want to tell you. Watch you squirm for a few more minutes," Raven said, a cruel grin coming to her face.

"Ha ha," Qrow muttered. He grit his teeth and snarled. "Please?"

"Well, if you're going to beg," Raven responded, smiling at her brother. "I got some good news for you. Pin's alive."

Qrow narrowed his eyes at his sister, then chuckled. "Tch... And?" he asked with a nonchalant shrug.

Raven straightened up, confused. She hissed in annoyance at her twin, then snapped, "What do you mean _and_?"

"I mean that the guy's been around since before we were Ruby's age, Rae. And he always knew eight more things than he ever let on. Even with you, Glyn, or I he was always hiding more secrets than he revealed," Qrow responded. He scoffed and shrugged again. "I just knew if everyone thought he was dead, it's because he _wanted_ to be thought of as dead. Why? Who knows, who cares, etc. I trust him. Wait? Did everyone else think he was dead? Even Glyn?"

"Um, of course," Raven replied, glaring at her brother. "I think that would be the natural response to the destruction of Beacon's main tower while he was inside it."

"Ha! Did you stick around to see if Glyn's _really_ over that paralyzing crush she had on him back when we were in school, or if she's just better at hiding it?" he asked, eyes wide with excitement. He held up both hands, palms opened towards his sister just as she began to respond. "Wait, no, let me guess!" He paused for a moment, then grinned wider and aimed an index finger at the woman. "She was skipping when she found out."

Raven stammered for a moment, then sighed and nodded. "Uh, yeah. She was. How did you –?"

Qrow doubled over, laughing to himself. "Oh! Oh, it's too good!" he exclaimed as his laughter died down. He tried to recover for a few more seconds, one hand up to tell his sister to wait. "Oh... oh, that's too good. Jimmy will be heartbroken. Oh, the Ice Queen will be feeling his pissed off attitude for months!"

"Ice Queen? Tell me, Brother, who is the object of your affections this time?" Raven asked, smirking at the fear growing on Qrow's face.

"Ew. One of Jimmy's 'specialists' and a Schnee heiress to boot," he muttered. He rolled his eyes as he thought of Winter. The Ice Queen was probably busy... buying things or acting all stuck up. "Ice Queen couldn't be more self interested if she tried."

"What, are you afraid your title as most self centered person on Remnant is in danger?" Raven mocked, her voice saccharine.

"Oh, please. I was always second to you," he retorted with a grin, quieting his sister. He sighed when he saw her indignant glare. "Jeez, sorry. Don't get all offended and run away for twenty years." He flashed his sister another mocking grin.

"This is getting so old," Raven muttered, looking away from her brother and crossing her arms.

"I've got twenty years worth of these," Qrow stated simply. He laughed once and moved himself into her field of vision. "Don't expect them to stop any time soon, Rae."

"That's what I was worried about," Raven muttered before placing her hand on the hilt of her sword. She twirled the dials of Dust then began to pull her weapon from its scabbard.

"Hey," Qrow said, reaching out to place his hand on his sister's before she could teleport away again. "Lunch? It'd be nice to _actually_ catch up, Rae. You know I love trading barbs, but it's hard to talk the real stuff when we're _both_ being sarcastic."

Raven frowned and opened her mouth to refuse, but stopped when she saw the pleading look on her brother's face. She sighed and shook her head. "Fine. But no noodles. I've wanted to eat a burger for twenty years now."

"You always got the glamorous missions," Qrow muttered, slapping his sister on the back and leading her towards the Kingdom's main city. He smiled and shut his eyes as they walked together, letting his chin hit his chest to hide the real smile. "Well, I may know a place or two. As long as you're buying."

Raven laughed once. "Wait, you think I have Lien?"

"Mooching. Just like when we were kids," Qrow sighed before looping an arm around his sister's shoulders to hug her from the side. "Ah, I missed you, Rae."

"And, despite my best efforts, I missed you too," Raven replied, looping her arm around her brother and hugging him back. She grinned and shot her twin a grin. " _Little brother._ "

Qrow growled at the woman, glaring at her out of the corner of his eye. "By five minutes!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora waited with the rest of the group, hands laced behind his head as he leaned back in the windowsill of Team SSSN's dorm room at Haven Academy, the breeze passing through the open window behind him ruffling his hair slightly. Ruby was taking up the other half of it, with Nora sitting on the floor next to her, humming to herself, and Ren next to her, his head swaying lightly with her humming. Jaune was in a chair between Neptune and Ren, with Sun finishing the circle hanging from a set of bars running across the ceiling. "So, those people are coming here?" Sun asked, his eyes hardening angrily. He let his gaze drift out of the window.

"And that's not the half of it," Jaune cut in. He grimaced and continued to explain. "They've got this old guy helping them out now. Like a _crazy_ strong old guy."

"The destruction at Beacon seems like nothing when compared with his power," Ren agreed solemnly. He frowned when he remembered the destruction in the Emerald Forests.

"His name is Xehanort," Sora stated, drawing Neptune and Sun's attention. "I've been following him for months to try and take him back to people who can fix everything he's done. Or at least make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else."

Ruby glanced over at Sora as he said this, then returned her attention to the group. "We need to find them and make sure they don't escape again. Maybe then we can get the whole world back on track," she said. Her mind flashed to her sister, then to Blake. "Maybe even help people save themselves."

"If only everyone agreed with you," Sun muttered, crossing his arms and glaring at the floor. He looked up at Ruby, trying to inject joy back into his eyes. "I just mean... I do. I agree, stopping these guys is definitely the most important thing. And I'm sure the Headmaster will be totally open to helping, especially if your weird uncle tells her what's going on."

"You'd have better luck getting Ren to smile," Sora noted, glaring at the Huntsmen. Ren just shrugged at him, denying Sora victory once again.

"You're fighting a losing battle, Sora," Neptune said, sighing and shaking his head. "Almost like trying to get this guy to wear anything that covers his chest."

"Hey, Sora's on my side with the style, Neptune," Sun responded, shooting a triumphant grin at his friend.

Neptune sighed and shook his head sadly. "So there's two of him now? Great. Maybe I can at least get one of them to suit up for the dance after the tournament," Neptune muttered. He glanced up suddenly, a twinkle in his eye. "Which reminds me, have you heard from Weiss yet, Ruby?"

"Um... no," Ruby responded, raising an interested eyebrow. "Why?"

"Oh. We talked for a while once the CCT came back up," Neptune explained, scratching his head. He gestured at Ruby. "She said she was going to try and talk to you, but then she stopped talking to me at all. I'd assumed she'd gotten through to you."

Ruby shook her head. "No, she didn't," she explained worriedly. She frowned and glanced at the ground. "It might be her dad. He's the one who took her back to Atlas after everything happened, and it sounded like he didn't even want her going to Beacon at all."

Neptune breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I was getting worried she'd just lost interest in me," he said, scratching his cheek nervously and blushing. It looked like feeling embarrassed or more than shallowly interested in a girl was a new experience for the blue haired young man.

"Dude, she was crazy about you, even when you flirted with those girls _during your fight_ ," Jaune said loudly. He laughed at Neptune's embarrassed grimace. "She told them to wipe the floor with you; it was hilarious!"

"You see, Ruby? I told you that they were trying to get back to you," Sora said, raising a hand to Ruby and waiting for a high five. She obliged with a soft smile and Sora laughed. "After this, I'll help you bust her out. How about it?"

Ruby's eyes widened. "I..." She smiled and nodded. "Thanks." Her face grew serious. "Now, about the task at hand..."

"Right," Sora said, turning back to Neptune and Sun. "So, has anything seemed... weird, lately?"

"You mean _besides_ all of the Huntsmen from the other academies?" Sun asked, shaking off some dark thoughts hanging over his head. "Because even then, totally. Nobody'll say anything, but the whole world is scared that what happened at Beacon will happen at another academy next. But they haven't done anything about it, here or any of the others. No extra security, no investigations. It's like they're just... waiting. And the news is pretty bad, too. Apparently, this tournament's the first time that the Kingdoms have even talked in months."

"People are afraid," Neptune said, "and fear attracts the Grimm. So everyone's just trying to pretend they aren't afraid. Nobody's doing it well; Grimm attacks are up since the Beacon attack. Still, they'd rather let everyone believe that the problem was because of some rivalry between Ozpin and the Atlesian Headmaster."

"Well I can _definitely_ say it wasn't about them. Headmaster Ozpin had some weird vault under Beacon. That's what Cinder wanted to find. There was this... this machine in it. " he said, eyes glazing over. He frowned for a second before continuing, "Pyrrha got in the machine with this other woman and..."

"And what?" Sora asked, frowning worriedly.

He shook his head. "I... I think they were trying to transfer her Aura to Pyrrha," he muttered, casting his gaze down. That sent the entire room into a terrified silence.

Sora especially was disturbed by this revelation. While he had never met Ozpin, it appeared that everyone held him in high regard. Given everything Sora had heard about Aura, it reminded him of how his Heart and the Keyblade let him resist attacks that otherwise would have murdered him. Swords, Heartless, Darknes... Sephiroth. Sora grimaced internally at all of his fights with the One-Winged Angel and how he'd helped Cloud defeat the monster last. This machine made it sound like Ozpin had been trying to transfer part of someone's Heart into another, a far too Xehanort-ian tactic for one of the 'good guys' of this World. And one that made Sora wonder if this Ozpin guy had known more about the World _ **s**_ than anyone else, especially combined with his knowledge of the Keyblade and Xehanort's imminent threat.

"What do you think, Sora?"

The Keyblade wielder looked up suddenly, grinning sheepishly "I'm, uh, sorry. What?"

"If this sounds like something Xehanort would want. You said he's going to try to take someone's body, right?" Jaune repeated, looking over at Sora. "A Machine that transfers Aura like that couldn't be too far from letting him steal bodies."

"He wants to _what?_ " Sun asked. He shuddered. "Dust, that's pretty damn evil."

"Even worse is that Xehanort doesn't need the machine," Sora explained, raising his hand and shaking his head. With a grin and some momentary concentration, he summoned the Keyblade to his hand. "Th-"

"What the Dust!?" Neptune screamed, his chair tipping backwards until he slammed into the ground. Sun glanced between the weapon and his friend on the ground then began laughing uncontrollably. Neptune glowered at his friend as he forced himself to his feet and lifted the chair back up. He sat down with a heavy sigh. "Thanks. Thanks, buddy. It's only a key half the size of a person that appeared out of thin air in a flash of light!"

"Sure. But, Dude, I didn't freak out!" Sun said between laughs. He looked over at the quiet Ruby, Sora, Jaune, and Ren, then over at the also laughing Nora. "I'm sorry, I know this is serious and all, but he's _never_ flustered! Ever! Smooth as ice, all the time, so I take what I can get."

Neptune shoved his friend, causing him to sway like a pendulum from where he hung. This only made the Faunus laugh harder. Neptune just sighed and sat back down. "Ugh, just... just get on with it," he told Sora, waving his hands to go with the order. "He'll calm down eventually."

"We're used to it," Ren said, his eyes drifting over to Nora, who was also still laughing uncontrollably. His gaze didn't move. "Some of us _far_ more than others."

Sora nodded. "I would have laughed, too, but this is really serious," he explained, raising the Keyblade in his hand again. Neptune frowned at that and shook his head. "Xehanort may find it interesting, but he doesn't need one. The Keyblade does more than just..."

"Everything?" Ren interjected dryly.

"Use magic," Sora said, glaring at Ren for a second. The Keyblade wielder then returned his gaze to Ruby continued to explain. "It can be used to do... a lot to Hearts. It can fragment a Heart. Or, like I did with Jaune, lock them from Darkness or Light. It can even remove Hearts from one body and move them into a new one."

"So he has everything he needs to win?" Neptune asked, worry tinging his voice. "Cause the end of the world doesn't sound fun."

"No," Sora said with a smile. He dismissed the Keyblade in a flash of light, nearly causing Neptune to fall over again. Sun stifled his laughter for the moment, letting Sora continue. "He needs certain bodies with certain powers, like I've told them before. He's after someone in our group." Sora resisted the urge to let his eyes flick towards Jaune as he said this. "And on top of that, the **χ** -blade is still broken. I don't know how he plans on fixing it, but he can't do anything he really wants until he fixes it. That gives me time. And if I can stop him _here_ , then it won't matter."

That's when it really hit Sora: his time on Remnant was almost over, and this had been the longest he'd spent on any world in years. It was funny, but it was almost starting to feel like a home at that point, maybe even more than . "Of course, we have to find him here first," he said, sighing. "And now Qrow's put us in this tournament..."

"Which is perfect!" Ruby shouted, surging upward. She laughed and raised her hands above her, "Uncle Qrow you genius!" She looked around at the confused faces of everyone else. "Think about it. Being in the tournament will give us access to areas we wouldn't usually have, access even Uncle Qrow won't have. We'll be able to look for Cinder and Xehanort."

Sora nodded. "You're right. And I'm willing to bet that Xehanort is going to be taking an interest in this tournament, too. With this many warriors clashing, there's bound to be someone who could fill in as his new body," he pointed out. He grinned, knowing they finally had a chance to be at least one less step behind. "Remind me to thank your uncle when we see him, Ruby!"

She checked her Scroll and shouted. "Oh! Speaking of, it looks like sign up is about to start," she exclaimed. She slid the device shut and glanced around. "We better hurry, guys."

"Right," Sora agreed, grinning at the group. He surged to his feet and pointed down at the square where the students were congregating. "Last one there buys dinner!"

Nora's head shot up. "Free food?" she shrieked in joy and jumped out of the window past Sora, barely avoiding tearing out a chunk of the wall.

Sora glanced around. "Um... go?" he asked, turning on his heel and jumping out of the window. He laughed and caught the air beneath his outstretched arms, rocketing towards the sign up location by gliding away. He quickly caught up with, then passed the redhead who had more vertical than horizontal speed. Ruby, Ren, and Jaune glanced at each other, then Ruby rocketed out after Sora in a bullet of crimson with Ren sliding down a drainpipe on the wall.

Jaune sighed and looked over at the wildly grinning Neptune and Sun. "Heh... you guys are included in that bet," he said hurriedly before taking his own dive out of the window.

"What?" Sun shouted eyes wide with worry. He didn't want to lose. The Faunus grimaced and looked over at his friend. "Sorry buddy, but... swimming!" Then he jumped out of the window, too, leaving only a shell shocked Neptune behind.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Qrow sighed and looked down at his Scroll, foot tapping against the ground anxiously. "Kid, where are you?" he growled to himself, pocketing his Scroll and looking around the square. He shook his head and began to pace around, arms crossed over his chest. He took a few steps in either direction before checking the time again. "Couldn't they just be on time?" He let his hands fall to his side and shivered. "Punctuality. I sound like the Ice Queen."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and let his chin fall to his chest, itching to go out and do something. Also, he hadn't had a drink since Raven had stolen his second flask, so he was feeling a little thirsty. "Hey, that kid can fly!" Qrow opened one eye when he heard that, though he didn't look up.

"I think it looks more like gliding," another person responded. Qrow's other eye opened.

"Y- Hey! Watch out!"

Qrow's head flew up just in time for a fast moving, human sized projectile to slam into his chest. "Ow," he groaned, glancing at Sora who was atop him, grinning sheepishly. "Get off -"

"Look out!"

Qrow groaned. "Not agai- Ooof!" he shouted when a red missile slammed into their pile. He wheezed his next command. "Get off!"

"Look ou– you know, it won't help at this point, anyway."

There was another heavy impact as a streak of pink and steel slammed into all three of them. That one was the heaviest, and he suddenly found himself having difficulty breathing. "Ugh! Get... off!" he tried to shout at the kids still recovering from their fall. He was able to slide his hands to his chest and somehow roll the pile off of him.

The air rushed back into his lungs faster than was comfortable and he hissed in pain again. "Ooof..." he groaned, rubbing the place where the three kids had hit him. "That's going to bruise." He narrowed his eyes and glared down at the three embarrassed kids. "You're late!" he snapped, moving his hand to his aching neck, grimacing and groaning as he did. "And where are the other two?"

"Jaune's on his way," a quiet voice said from above, a young man in green walking into Qrow's field of vision. Ren held out his hand to help the Huntsman to his feet, something the elder warrior graciously accepted. With a small effort, Ren pulled Qrow to his feet and the Huntsman dusted himself off.

"I'M HERE! I'M HERE!" the blonde screamed, tumbling to the ground at Qrow's feet and panting. With great effort, he pushed himself up and rolled over onto his back, a relieved smile on his face. "I'm... not last..."

"Neither am I!" Sun shouted gleefully, falling from the sky and rolling to his feet beside Jaune. He pumped his fist and began to dance. He stopped and held up three fingers. After a second, he let one fall. Then another. "Which means..."

"Dammit Sun!" Neptune shouted, tackling his friend to the ground as Sun's last finger curled into a fist. "That was low!"

"And... you brought friends," Qrow muttered, glaring at the two Haven students. "Of course you did." He shook his head and looked between the kids who were busy pushing themselves to their feet. "So, I take it your buddies went over the rules with you?"

"We thought you had," Sun responded as he blocked an incoming blow from Neptune's fist. "I mean, you _are_ the one who basically forced this on them."

"First off: shut up. Secondly: you gave a man who already has too much on his plate even more to do. Because why wouldn't you?" Qrow growled, earning a shrug from the two Haven students, who immediately continued their brawl.. "Tch... fine. Listen up, Ruby... and others, cause I'm only sayin' this once."

"Hear you loud and clear!" Ruby said, saluting her uncle.

Qrow tried to groan, but couldn't stop himself from smiling at his niece's boundless happiness. Meeting Sora had been good for her, for all those kids. They were a lot... brighter since it happened. "Okay, Kid. It's pretty different from the Vytal Festival's tournament. Almost the opposite," he said, placing his hands on his hips and glancing from side to side. He motioned with his hand as he explained. "For one, this tournament starts at the one on one stage. You register in teams of up to six and slowly work your way up the ranks. If your team makes it past the singles round, you enter doubles. If only one of you makes it through singles, you fight two on one."

"Like _that's_ gonna happen," Ruby snorted, waving her Uncle's amused glare off.

"I'm sure. Anyway," Qrow continued, shooting a sidelong look at his overexcited relative, "the advancement style is the same for the next round. At that point, however much of each team made it through regroups for a team Battle Royale."

"And Team SSSN is going to take the trophy home," Sun said, grinning at his friends.

"Sure. If my niece doesn't wipe the floor with you first," Qrow retorted while laughing. He sighed and turned back to Ruby. "Also, the school's done something I only ever thought Pete Port was crazy enough to do... capture a bunch of Grimm. At any time, during any of the fights, they could let them loose in the arena. It's supposed to show people the Grimm _aren't_ a threat, even to you students. I wouldn't expect anything more than a few Ursas. Maybe a Deathstalker or Nevermore in the Royale. Tests how a leader 'prioritizes.' There's no bonus points or anything for killing them, but you don't win until all enemies are down and out. If you both fail, teachers'll step in and save your asses."

"Like _that's_ gonna happen," Sora snorted, waving Qrow's amused glare off.

"I'm sure," Qrow repeated, glancing between his niece and the Keyblade wielder. "Whenever you aren't on the field for the tournament, be on the lookout. The enemy's had their eyes on Haven for a while, and I doubt they'd fail to show their faces. Or, at least, someone's faces."

"Since they are likely disguise, our experiences with them mean we may be the only ones who will recognize them," Ren finished for Qrow.

"Right you are, Pinky," Qrow said, flashing his index finger in a gun shape at the young Huntsman. "I'll be looking for anything out of place, but I want you guys watching the fights. Chatting it up with the other contestants. See if you recognize anyone or anything specific. Once we have them in sight, we take them out one by one as quiet as we can."

Sora grimaced. "Quiet. Right," he muttered, scratching his cheek. _Not_ his strong suit. And especially not if he got in a fight with Xehanort. "Um... and if quiet isn't an option?"

Qrow glared at the Keyblade wielder. "You better hope it's an option," he growled, eliciting nervous laughter from Sora. "But if it really is a no go, contact me. I'll be there fast as I can. I know you guys can handle yourselves, but I'd rather not deal with any big fallout."

"And you can call us any time," Neptune suggested, slapping Sun on the back as he did so. The Faunus nodded in excited agreement "As long as you take me along when you go get Weiss."

Sun laughed. "Wow, he really cares! That involves crossing miles of water."

Both Neptune and Jaune turned green. "Don't remind me," they whimpered in chorus, clutching their guts.

Qrow checked his Scroll as the kids laughed together. "Okay. Sign up is going to start any second," he said, placing it back in his pocket. "Go get checked in while I snoop around."

He turned around, then spun on his heel to point at Sora. "Almost forgot." He dug around in his pocket for a moment then laughed. "Ha! Here we go." He pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to the Keyblade wielder. He said, "Had these made this morning... You're my student, if anyone asks. They'll scan what's on that for your tournament info." Then he turned around again and waved as he walked towards the school, where no one would be for the next few hours. Unless they were trying to snoop around or be a criminal.

As they watched him go, Ruby smiled at her Uncle's back. "It's weird, but I think Ozpin's death was good for him," she said, smiling at the bittersweet thought. "He didn't even smell like a brewery." She shrugged and turned to the others. "Well, I guess we better sign in."

Neptune slapped Sun's shoulder. "Oh, right! We should go too," the Faunus said. He grinned at the Vale Huntsmen and their Keyblade wielder friend. " If we see you in the tournament, don't hold back." He waved goodbye to the group and ran off, Neptune at his side. "Good luck!"

"Like we'll need it," Jaune said confidently.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"And you really think I'll be able to keep us all disguised at once?" Emerald asked, fiddling with her recolored weapons nervously. Gone was the forested green, replaced instead with a deeper color more in line with her namesake. One less thing for her to worry about controlling. Mercury's boots had not been recolored. He had gotten overly indignant the moment she'd suggested it, actually. "Sure, I'm a lot stronger than I was... but..."

"Your strength should suffice for this test," Xehanort said, raising his hand, palm outward. "Though you will not need to disguise me. With training, a body is merely a vessel for the Heart within, and the Heart can alter the vessel as it needs." He twisted his palm towards himself, then waved his hand downward along the length of his body, his features suddenly beginning to change as his outstretched fingers passed them.

The old man grimaced in pain as his features changed in fits and starts, smoothing out as they did. His hunched over spine straightened and white hair sprouted from his skull. His goatee disappeared, and his features smoothed out. He frowned and shrugged off his jacket, then took off his gloves before concentrating once more. Black slowly began to fade in from the roots down its length, the second spike on the back smoothing out. A pair of matching black horns grew from within his hair, arching back then swirling down to stop parallel to his jawline. His gleaming yellow eyes slowly added in blue and grew to a vibrant aqua. "Tell me, how do I look?" he inquired, his voice much lighter and less hoarse. He smiled and held out his hand, summoning a flash of darkness to his hand. A blue and red blade formed in his fist, a mechanical looking demon wing. "Do I fit the part of a 'Huntsman?'" He swung the blade out to his side and stood as he had seen so many of his victims stand over the years.

"Damn," Mercury muttered, staring in awe at the 'old' man. "You can just make yourself look like anything you want, then?"

"Intriguing," Cinder muttered as she approached, her blades clipped to her back. "I assume that we won't be able to learn such a skill?"

"Unfortunately, no, my dear," he said. He shook his head. "No, that sounds too... old. Hmph. How about, 'No, you won't.' Yes, much better. Succinct, youthful. Anyways, you can't. Only a Keyblade Master wearing the form of another may control the projections of the Heart so." He groaned and clutched suddenly at his chest. He looked around at the perturbed faces of Salem's servants, then explained his pain. "And it comes, for now, with a price. I am not at my full strength while hidden, though I should be able to deal with most threats."

"And Sora?" Mercury asked caustically, grinning at the momentary flinch it elicited from Xehanort. "Still no worries?"

"He is as trusting as you say the Rose girl is," Xehanort said, glaring at Mercury. The younger man gulped nervously and his grin disappeared. Emerald slapped his shoulder disapprovingly. Xehanort returned his gaze to Cinder. "And even should he see through this deception – ah, falling into my speech pattern again. Ahem... And even if he does figure it out, I'll still be able to take him down. You three only need to worry about testing your new abilities against tho – them. Against them. If a battle between... me and Sora is decided upon by the tournament, I will throw the fight. I know my limits really well. As an added bonus, he won't suspect us anymore."

"Better," Emerald said of his adopted manner of speaking. Xehanort glanced in her direction and nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Okay, so now that _that's_ done," Mercury muttered. He crossed his arms and glanced around. "What do you get out of this?"

Xehanort laughed dryly. "So very much," he explained, strapping his new weapon onto his belt, then bending down and picking up his jacket. He folded the gloves carefully and tucked them into the pockets of the jacket, then folded the jacket itself around the **χ** -blade. He placed the folded garment beneath his arm. "The Darkness that resides in all of you is strong, that is true. But my needs require something with more... Light. Something more along the lines of..." Xehanort gestured a circle in the air with his free hand. He smiled evilly and looked at both Mercury and Emerald. "More along the lines of a Knight than a Rogue."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"And here we are, folks! The first round of the Haven Tournament, where eighty percent of proceeds go to rebuilding Vale's illustrious Beacon Academy!" the announcer shouted from above the arena, the crowd roaring joyfully at her every word. "After the attack four months ago, the Kingdom has gotten classes back up and running at a secondary site, but they really want their emerald towers back up and running! Clean up is slow, but with enough funds, maybe they can finally get rid of that frozen dragon!"

"That would be nice, right Firecracker?" Taiyang Xiao-Long asked his daughter, forcing his worries for Ruby from his mind to try and get his eldest child's spirits up. He waved around the Beacon Academy pennants and smiled excitedly at the morose young woman. His wide grin turned to a disappointed sigh as her lilac eyes met his, blinked once, slowly, then returned to the television. The blanket she had draped over her legs as she lay across the couch barely moved, though her left hand drifted slowly over to the place where her arm ended. An envious look flashed on her face for a moment before returning to its normal, exhausted stare. "Firecracker..."

"You wanted me to come out here and watch this," Yang muttered, a noise barely louder than a whisper. Her eyes tracked to their edges to glare at her father. "So be quiet and let me watch it."

Taiyang sighed but amiably did as his daughter had asked. His daughter had always behaved more like him than her mother, but he'd always known that she more resembled the dead woman at her core. A power hungry thrill seeker with a heart of gold. But whenever things had gone poorly, Raven had gone introspective. While it would usually take her out of the action for a little while, it always ended with her making herself better. But, being the impatient person he was, Taiyang was hungering for his daughter to return to normal. He wanted more of their hilarious joking instead of this angry quiet all the time.

"... the first of these fights will occur in fifteen minutes. Let's see who our contestants will be..." The screen shifted to reveal a white rectangle with two black squares centered in both vertical halves. A tiny 'VS.' was placed at the center of the screen. After a moment, the two black squares flashed and were filled with a blur of colors. Slowly, that blur slowed until individual faces could be picked out every so often, slowing even further until it settled on two faces. One was of a young man with spiky, brown hair and a wide, infectious grin. Yang herself found her frown tug up for a half moment. The other was a young Faunus man with black hair and similarly colored horns curling around his ears. His smile – or smirk, rather – was filled with quiet cruelty and a clear belief in his own superiority. "Okay, let's see here... Our contestants for the first duel are Sora... um... no last name given. Okay, then just Sora until we figure out who let him file under a mononym. Anyways: Sora, the student of famed Huntsman Qrow Branwen -"

"What?!" Yang and Taiyang shouted simultaneously, leaning towards the screen as it focused on the spiky haired boy's face for a second. He looked way too innocent to be traveling with the alcoholic, womanizing Qrow day in and day out.

"And the other contestant is Yoru Yagi, of Vacuo. Huh, interesting. Again, Yoru is _not_ a student of the formal Academies. Well, this will be quite the interesting fight to watch, eh folks?" the announcer asked.

"Hm. Qrow never told me about having a student. Well, good for him!" Taiyang said, a small smile on his face as he looked over at his daughter. She didn't respond, so he turned his gaze back to the screen. "You know, I wonder what kind of weapon the kid uses. Do you think Qrow taught him how to use a scythe, like with your sister, or-" Taiyang froze, eye twitching as the camera panned down to the place from where Sora, who holding a giant and unwieldy Key shaped sword, was walking out.

The young man was high-fiving his team mates. They all looked very familiar to Taiyang, but that's not what made him angry. Sure, the knight, the ginger, and the kid in green looked like they were students of Beacon, so of course he'd have recognized them. And Qrow was there, too. Not weird, given he was the kid's mentor. No, the thing that made Taiyang so unbelievably, incredibly, fire exploding from his hair angry was the young woman who Sora hugged before running off to take part in his battle. "Go Sora!" the young woman in a red, hooded cloak and black combat skirt shouted, hands cupped to her face as she screamed. "Kick his butt!"

"R-R-Ruby..." Yang turned to see what her father would do next. To his credit, he just twitched again while staring at the screen. She thought that was all he'd do, for a moment. But then he stood up slowly and spun on his heel, his face plastered with a manic and crazed grin. "I... am going to murder your uncle, Firecracker," he said quietly, popping each of his knuckles individually and _loudly_ just for effect. His neck was shivering with rage, while his fists were completely still. "I'm going to go bird hunting. And I'll let Zwei have his way with the..." He turned to match his daughter's gaze. Laughing nervously, he scratched the back of his head. "I'm... uh... I just have to make a call. I'll be back in a sec, Firecracker." Then he bolted from the room, cursing quietly as he pulled his scroll form his pocket. " _DAMMIT, QROW!_ You said you didn't know where she was you Dust blasted, drunk... _bastard_!"

Yang just returned her attention to the screen, where she had seen her sister just a second before. Despite herself, Yang could feel a small, teasing grin break out on her face. "Aww... _Ruby's got a boyfriend,_ " she singsonged to herself. She glanced around to make sure her dad had not seen or heard her, then forced her frown back onto her face and watched the battle with renewed interest. Quietly: "Go Ruby's boyfriend!"


	11. 1v1

**AN: Okay, hey everyone. Before we begin, I do want to say I am an ardent fan of Snowbird. Qrow and Winter – I just feel it's inevitable, right? So I'll probably put that in when the two finally share screen time. But, given how Qrow and Taiyang didn't really seem to like each other too much in that last shot of season three, I wonder if Qrow liked Summer all those years ago, you know? Eh, I don't know. Just rambling, I guess.**

 **I'm glad everyone liked the Yang segment. It was my favorite part of last chapter, too. Especially the parts with Taiyang. The other members of RWBY show up in the next couple chapters, just to check in with them before we inevitably get them involved in everything.**

 **To Keyslinger Roxas: Nope. I don't have any plans at the moment to use the Keyblade introduced in KH3's trailer, though I do have a plan to use _another_ Keyblade seen in a KH3 trailer. Wink wink. **

**Anyways, feel free to leave suggestions for fighters to show up in the next round of the tournament. Enjoy!**

 _ **Chapter 11: 1v1**_

Sora grinned as he took his first step into the arena, eyes wide with wonder. The arena reminded him of his time with Hercules and Phil, fighting in the Olympus Colosseum to train to become a hero. That was the same reason this arena existed, to help people like Sora become heroes. Then he turned his gaze downward and watched his opponent as they both approached the center of the arena, the crowd letting out anxious murmurs every few minutes. They were hungry for the fights to start, for something to distract from the ever present threat of an attack. Of Xehanort's plans, regardless of whether they knew the culprit or not. Sora shoved those thoughts from his mind, instead opting to concentrate on the fight at hand. It would be nice to let loose and fight in a battle that wasn't life threatening. He didn't expect it to be _easy_ , but it wouldn't be like every fight he'd had in the past few months. "That's an... interesting weapon you have." Sora looked up at the source of the voice. His opponent's half-lidded eyes were fixed on the Keyblade. The Ram Faunus moved his gaze to match Sora's and he cocked his head to the side, asking, "Where did you get it?"

Sora laughed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he said, grinning as the announcer rattled off a list of event sponsors. Sora shook his head in amusement when Schnee Corp popped up halfway through.

"I'm sure that's not true," the other boy said, reaching down to unclip a sword from his hip, holding the weapon out to his side in his right hand, arm perpendicular to the ground and his free hand held out the same way. He twisted so his open hand was pointed at Sora. "Remnant's a weird world. Who knows what stories are rooted in truth?"

It was Sora's turn to be transfixed by his opponent's weapon. It was a red and blue saber, shaped in the form of a mechanical wing. It made Sora feel... uneasy. "That's an interesting weapon, too."

"This old thing?" Yoru asked, raising the weapon. He shook it side to side, showing it off to both Sora and the crowd, then let it return to his battle stance again. "It's just an old heirloom, that's all. Nothing special, really."

The Keyblade wielder nodded, willing to give this stranger the benefit of the doubt for now. Something may have felt wrong, but that didn't mean this young man was really connected to Xehanort. Of course, it didn't prove that a connection didn't exist either. Sora decided to trust his Heart, for now, and keep an eye on this kid throughout their battle. "Cool. One of my friends has a weapon his great grandpa used in the Great War. Is it like that?"

"Older," the warrior responded, raising the weapon to level it at Sora. In response, the Keyblade wielder bent his knees and got into a ready stance as well.

"Good luck!" Sora shouted with a grin.

Yoru smirked back. "I doubt I'll need it," he retorted, foot tensing to edge forward as the announcer began the countdown to the duel's beginning Light flashed around the two warriors, a barrier restricting the movement of the two young fighters. "Try to keep up; I'd like a challenge for once."

"Fighters... Begin!"

Sora jumped forward first, blade slashing back and forth before him. Yoru flipped out of his attack's path, flicking his wrist and causing his blade to extend into a whip. He slashed out at Sora as he fell, the weapon cracking as it snapped towards the Keyblade wielder. Sora raised the Keyblade just in time to take the blow. The whip wrapped around the Keyblade, and Sora stumbled forward as Yoru landed and yanked up on the weapon, trying to tear it away.

Sora jumped forward with the next pull, swinging around to yank Yoru towards him midair. Sora aimed his feet straight out towards his opponent, who flailed as they drew near to one another. At the last moment, he twisted midair and unlatched their weapons. Sora slid just past Yoru, slamming into the ground with a heavy thud. The Faunus warrior soared across the arena. He flicked his whip-blade again and it slammed into the ground. He pulled up on the weapon and brought himself to the ground before hitting the barrier.

As soon as he hit the ground, Sora was on him, slashing at the warrior with quick, one handed strikes. Yoru dodged each, just barely moving out of the Keyblade's path. The entire time, Sora noticed, Yoru's off hand remained at the small of his back. Sora didn't know why that bothered him so much, why it looked so familiar, but it did. Sora brought the Keyblade up and then down in a two handed strike, which Yoru let hit his blade so that it slid along the weapon's length and slammed into the ground. "You're pretty fast," Yoru noted, jumping onto Sora's back to use as a leap pad. He flipped midair and lashed out with the length of the whip again.

Sora jumped over the attack and crashed his shoulder into Yoru's chest, eliciting a grunt of pain and annoyance as they crashed into the ground. Sora vaulted off of the ground, shooting straight up and gripping the Keyblade in both hands for a final blow. Yoru snarled on the ground and rolled backwards, out of Sora's path. His weapon drifted up, this time further than before and Sora raised his Keyblade to deflect the incoming blow, Heart skipping a beat from recognition. Yoru's blade was held next to his head, just for a moment, his familiarly shaped jawline curled into a similarly familiar look of angry preparation. The whip came down and Sora flipped out of the way, one hand hitting the ground to handspring him back to this feet.

Sora frowned as he slid to a stop and held the Keyblade out behind him. He couldn't quite tell why, even still, but something was wrong. Did this kid have some connection to Xehanort? Sora deflected the next incoming attack and ran towards Yoru, starting a flurry of traded blows between the two. Sora's Keyblade nicked the Faunus' shoulder after a few minutes and sent him tumbling. Sora readied himself again, both hands on the Keyblade in front of him.

If this kid _was_ connected to Xehanort somehow, Sora knew he couldn't let the old man know he was on to him. Which meant he couldn't hesitate at all. He jumped forward, spinning with his Keyblade to deliver another powerful blow. It collided with Yoru's outstretched blade, crashing through its defense and forcing it into whip form. It wrapped around the Keyblade and Yoru spun around Sora, jamming his foot into the small of the Keyblade warrior's back and beginning to choke him out using the whip. Sora's eyes went wide and he fell to his knees, fingers groping at the weapon as he gasped for air. He reached over his shoulder as his vision began to tunnel and jumped towards the barrier, flipping in the air so that Yoru was between him and the barrier.

"Gagh!" the Faunus screamed, losing his grip on his weapon as the energy in the wall began to travel through his body. Sora fell to the ground before his opponent, panting while Yoru was electrocuted. A few moments later, the barrier went down and the Faunus crashed to the ground. A loud _beep_ followed a moment later.

"Aura out! Wow! Well, that was an impressive battle, wasn't it?" the announcer shouted above the still panting Sora. The Keyblade wielder clutched at his throat, coughing for a moment. "We have our winner, Sora of Vale! What a way to start off our tournament, folks! Pure skill with their weapons. I can't wait to see what else Sora has up his sleeve tomorrow!"

Sora pushed himself to his feet and turned towards the warrior pushing himself to his feet. Without hesitating, he walked over and held his hand out to help him up. "Great fight," he said, forcing his natural, easygoing smile onto his face. The other fighter glanced up at Sora, a flash of anger appearing in his eyes. Still, he took Sora's hand and hefted himself to his feet.

"You as well," Yoru responded, flicking his wrist so his weapon returned to its blade form before clipping it to its belt. He bowed his head slightly to the Keyblade wielder. "Good luck in the Tournament." With that, he turned towards where his teammates waited and walked away.

Sora crossed his arms and watched him walk away silently. He grunted in surprise when a wall of people slammed into his back, sending him stumbling forward. He blushed and smiled as a pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders. "Congratulations!" Ruby shouted, hugging him from behind as the others slapped him on the back. When she let go, Sora turned around, flashing a grin that quickly soured into a grimace. Ruby frowned. "What's wrong?"

Sora cast a glance over his shoulder at the other group whispering among one another. "Hopefully nothing," he said, turning back to the group and hefting the Keyblade onto his shoulders. "But I know who I'm following around."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"I still don't get why you didn't just kill him," Mercury said, running a hand through his reddened hair. Emerald's illusions were holding up well, with the young man's eyes changed to a brilliant, fire-like blue and his skin more like Xehanort's usual deep brown than his own pale complexion. His outfit was a similar blazing Mercury shook his head. "I mean, if he's the only one that can fight you -"

"To kill him now would only martyr him to those I must control," the Keyblade Master growled. He brought his hand up and scratched the end of one of his new horns disinterestedly. "Sometimes, one must allow a nuisance to survive in order to build a much greater plan. It's a lesson I only learned through great pain of my own."

"Besides, it's in our plans' interest for them to continue living," Cinder explained, her hand playing with a bun on the top of her head, which was now a golden blonde. She was wearing a blue version of the outfit she'd used during the Vytal tournament, bandages wrapped around her chest a purer white and her jacket and pants matching the blue of her eyes perfectly. Her sword-bow was separated, each blade strapped to one of her hips. She glanced over at Xehanort. "You are on board, correct?"

"Your plan for this place?" the Keyblade master inquired, turning around to lean against the wall. He crossed his arms. "Should you actually need my aid, I will lend it. I doubt you will, however."

"You believe in us?" Emerald asked excitedly.

"Do you doubt my ability to teach?" Xehanort inquired, eyes narrowing dangerously on the girl, who was dressed in violet with lavender hair.

She flinched. "N-no! Not at all!" she shouted, hands waving in front of her. She gestured at Mercury and Cinder. "I mean... no, I don't doubt it. I'm not even feeling this – we'll be fine."

"Is no one else worried they'll stumble into this anyways?" Mercury asked, drawing the attention of the other three.

"You idi -" Emerald began, a knee jerk reaction to anything he said.

"They will," Xehanort admitted with a shrug. "Sora always had a knack for it."

"So does Red," Mercury stated.

"Clever boy," Xehanort said, flashing Mercury a skin crawling grin. Emerald glared at her partner jealously for the praise he was receiving, though a little intrigued by the growth he'd had since their training with Xehanort began. "But it won't matter." He looked over at Cinder. "Your plan has been readied for months, years even. Yes?"

"Events are already in motion," Cinder agreed, turning back to the arena. The second battle had finished – a boy from Haven named Sun had defeated a Huntsman from Atlas. The screen was already moving towards its two warriors. "They cannot hope to stop it now."

"And the next battle is between Agni Bleu of Vacuo and Lie Ren of Vale!" the announcer shouted as Mercury's current appearance flashed on the screen next to the green clad warrior accompanying Ruby and Sora.

"Wow. What are the odds?" Mercury asked, forcing himself to move towards the arena. He cracked his knuckles and grinned over his shoulder. "I'll wipe the floor with him, Gramps."

Xehanort narrowed his eyes at the green robed boy. Yes, what _were_ the odds that he not only fought Sora in the very first battle, but that his companions would fight with Sora's as well? "Fate is already written," Xehanort responded quietly. He glanced over at Cinder. "You wish to check in with your agents? Go, I will watch and alert you if you are needed."

The Fall Maiden glanced over at the man, then nodded in thanks. She turned away from the battle – Mercury would wipe the floor with the boy anyways, so there was no need to watch too closely. She pulled out her Scroll as her heels clacked against the stone. She smirked at the angry face that popped up on the screen. "Taurus – you aren't going to be late, are you?"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Lie Ren calmly drew StormFlower from his hips, twirling them to a ready position in front of him. He had arrived at the center of the arena before his meandering opponent, who moved like he was bored and disinterested in the tournament. Ren knew this likely meant that this 'Agni' likely had some sort of unseen skill, or perhaps an incredibly powerful Semblance that Ren could not easily discern. He widened his stance and readied to dodge to either side at the drop of a hat. It would not do well to be caught unawares, even if he had no idea what was coming.

Agni eventually came to a stop just a few paces from Ren, grabbing one bicep behind his head and stretching the arm to the sky. He yawned, a loud and obnoxious noise. "Ugh," he groaned, letting his hands fall to his orange clad sides. "I get to deal with you, huh? Well, at least I know I'm making it into the next round."

Ren sighed and shook his head. "I think you over estimate your own abilities," he stated. His weapons clacked as he moved them to aim directly at Agni. "And underestimate mine."

Agni grinned and condescendingly said, "Oh, I doubt it." The red head twisted to the side and leaned towards Ren, his left leg straightened out behind him like he was about to run. "I bet you last five minutes. Max, Pinky."

Ren ignored the warrior's attempts to knock him off balance and began studying his stance. He likely dealt with powerful kick attacks. That meant Ren would have to keep the warrior at a distance, something he believed he could do with little trouble using StormFlower's submachine gun capabilities. It would be a battle of attrition, then. Could he take out his opponent's Aura before himself running out of Dust? "Fighters... Begin!"

Ren gasped as an orange blur slammed into his chest, sending him tumbling to the ground. He rolled to his feet, seeing that same orange blur rushing towards him. He raised his weapons, catching an incoming boot on StormFlower's blades. Agni was sneering down at him from the other end of the leg, assured in his victory. Ren shoved upward, flipping to deliver a jack knife kick that crashed against Agni's forearm; he'd blocked the attack.

As Ren rebounded from the block, he brought his other leg around to strike at his opponent's temple. Agni just grinned and brought his arm around, grabbing hold of Ren's leg and bringing him over head to slam into the ground. Ren grunted in pain, the blow taking out a large chunk of his Aura reserves. He opened his eyes and rolled out of the path of an incoming kick, the boot laced with black flames. He didn't get far enough away, though, and the blaze exploded outward to crash into him. Even through his Aura, it burned for a moment and he screamed in pain, writhing until it went out.

"What happened to me underestimating you, Pinky?" Agni mocked as Ren pushed himself to his feet. Agni laughed at Ren's determined scowl, and glanced up at the jumbotron. "Oh, four minutes thirty. Better end this or I lose the bet."

Ren narrowed his eyes and ran towards his opponent, knowing he had to go on the offensive. He slashed down with the weapon in his right hand, firing towards Agni's left with the other to force him into the path of his first weapon's barrel. The red head obliged, jumping to his right. Ren smiled slightly and pulled StormFlower's other trigger, the stream of bullets slamming into Agni and causing the man to flounder for a moment, crashing to the ground and raising his arms to protect himself. "Ah, past five minutes," Agni growled, his bent legs tensing beneath him. Ren's eyes widened when, a half second later, the red head was gone.

He looked around for the red head, only to see an orange blur that was constantly just outside of his visual range. His eyes widened in worry when he noticed that Agni was _literally_ running circles around him, an ever growing wall of black flames behind him. A moment later, that stream hooked a hard left and slammed into Ren, sending him into the wall of fire. He was knocked the other way just a moment later by Agni coming in from behind. This continued for a few moments, with the fiery red head attacking Ren from all sides before he could hit the ground or wall.

Finally, he let Ren hit the ground. The green clad Huntsman tried to push himself to his feet, looking up at the smirking Agni. "Game over," he laughed, raising his hands and swinging them right at Ren, the flames surrounding them flying at Ren and crashing into him. Ren screamed in pain for a moment, the attack continuing until just after his Aura had been depleted.

"Ren!"

"Ren!" Nora screamed, eyes wide with worry as she somehow barreled _through_ the Dust barrier keeping the battle enclosed. A moment later, it went down and Sora and the others sprinted after her. Nora slid to the ground, clutching at her fallen partner's shoulders. Sora gasped when he saw the intense burns lining the warrior's face.

He raised the Keyblade above his head. "Heal!" he shouted, bells chiming loudly as a Curaga began to heal his friend's wounds. He turned angrily towards the smirking Agni, ready to fight him for what he'd done to Ren. He'd gone way too far.

Instead, he was cut off by a large hammer swinging from a young woman's shoulder to slam into Agni, sending him flying away. "You hurt Ren!" she screamed, eyes manic with tears welling up. Sora watched as she ran towards Agni, hammer raised above her. "You went too far!" The hammer slammed into the stone floor, shattering it. There was a huge, terrified gasp from far above. The crowd was growing scared.

Nora raised her head towards the still smirking red head and roared. She quickly transferred her weapon into grenade launcher mode and leveled it at Agni. "Nora!" The young woman was thrown off, her weapon clattering from her hand as a gray figure slammed into her side. Qrow stood above her, one hand clenched around the handle of his scythe at his back. "Don't."

"Um... folks, we're um... We're going to take a short break. Go buy some food or some mementos! The next fight will take place in about an hour or two while the moderators of the rules decide on... things," the announcer shouted above. There was the clacking of boots as Huntsmen approached the six people left in the arena, ready to break up the fight.

"You. Come with us," one said, pointing at Nora angrily. The other walked past her and bent down to grab Magnihild. She pulled up, trying to lift the hammer. She grunted, trying even harder. Again. "Do you need help?"

"You try lifting it!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

"You know, I didn't think she'd go _that_ far for Pinky," Mercury said with a sneer as he sat with his teammates in their assigned room. He leaned back in his chair, and sighed happily. That fight had been even easier than he had thought it would be, like fighting someone standing still. "It went better than even you could have expected, Cin."

"Yes. It appears good luck you were placed into battle with him," Cinder agreed, smiling at Mercury. "You did well." The proud smile became a frown. "Don't call me Cin." Mercury grinned sheepishly and nodded.

"Well, it's about time you got serious about something," Emerald said dryly. Mercury just grinned at her, causing her to blush and scowl. "But you're still an idiot."

"Your eyes say otherwise," the speedster mocked with a shrug.

"Enough," Cinder cut in. Her glare was unamused and locked on both of them. "You can flirt on your own time."

"Flirt?" Emerald asked. She narrowed her eyes on Mercury, whose grin had widened with this response. "With him? The blonde would make a more interesting partner than this lame brain."

"You wound me," Mercury said, gripping his chest and letting his head fall backwards. His voice took on an affected, broken tone. "Why deny your Heart?"

Xehanort scoffed and shook his head in amusement before turning to look at Cinder. "Your plan proceeds well, I hope."

"Adam has procured everything we will need," Cinder explained, deciding to also ignore the hushed, argumentative flirting of her underlings. "His soldiers will be present and ready when the time comes. Our victory at Beacon has only caused the ranks of the White Fang to swell at an unprecedented rate; the world has seen the Huntsmen are weak and if they unable to even help themselves, what use are they to anyone else?"

"Chaos grows on the Remnant," Xehanort noted with a smile.

"Yes," Cinder agreed. She glanced over at the door. "And the outburst of the Valkyrie girl has only fostered the seeds we planted during the Vytal festival. Another Beacon student over reacting in their eyes, attacking an opponent without cause and trying to kill him? Excellent work, Emerald; making it appear as if Lie Ren had not been harmed beyond his Aura levels was excellent team work with Mercury."

"Finally getting recognition, baby?" Mercury mocked the blushing Sustrai. She whirled on him and slapped his shoulders over and over. He only laughed in response, raising one arm defensively to protect his face. "Oh, you know you want me." He growled like a tiger. Emerald flinched and her blush deepened before she began redoubling her assault on her friend. "Ow! That one actually hurt!"

"Yes. My plan is progressing exactly as it should," Cinder stated self confidently. She looked over at the door, wondering what would happen with the Silver Eyed girl's team mates now. "It really is only a matter of time before everything they've built comes crashing down at their feet."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"What the hell were you thinking!?" Qrow snapped at Nora, walking into the medical room and jamming his finger directly at the young woman, who was sitting beside Ren with eyes locked onto his face. The young woman looked up at Qrow from where she sat, hand on top of the unconscious Ren's and her eyes resolute even in the face of Qrow's sizable wrath. Sora thought she looked like that Glynda woman had – exhausted and fighting off the imminent fall of a break down.

"Shh!" the nurse in charge of the medbay, glaring at the angry Huntsman and the kids with him that surrounded her resting ward, hissed angrily. They all glanced over at her, then down at Ren, and silently agreed to do as the woman had suggested.

Qrow sighed and lowered his voice. "What were you thinking?" he asked Nora, his voice quieter though no less angry. He pointed directly at the young woman. "Not only did you jeopardize everyone else's place in the tournament, you terrified everyone in the crowd. This tournament might just be the last chance the Kingdoms have to foster any kind of trust after the shit storm that was the Vytal Festival. If this goes downhill, everyone will stop trusting each other. They'll think one of the other Kingdoms is behind it! It'll be war. Real war, the kind this world has tried to forget for eighty years! Glyn told you about what the Schnee CEO wants to do with Vale, right? Well, he'd get what he wanted."

"He hurt Ren!" Nora protested angrily, her hand clenching tighter around Ren's. She opened her mouth to say something more, but her voice broke. It was another few minutes before she could actually say more. "Ren's Aura was gone and that guy kept attacking him anyways! With that weird black fire, over and over even after the battle should have been called as over! Ren was burned; if Sora hadn't helped him-"

"What are you talking about?" Jaune asked Nora, placing one of his hands on his other arm. He looked concerned for the ginger warrior, like he hadn't even seen the same thing. "He... wasn't hurt at all. Just unconscious."

Sora looked over at the blonde, bewildered. That didn't make any sense. Had he really seen something different? "No. He _was_ burned. Bad," Sora countered, looking around at his friends. It was Jaune, Ruby, and Qrow's turn to look confused. Nora's eyes lit up, tears welling in her eyes as she was given support from the Keyblade wielder. "What are you guys... how didn't you see that?"

"It was on the screen. He was... fine," Ruby said, her voice trailing off. She shook her head and slammed her fist into the arm of the chair she sat in. This was beginning to sound all too familiar to the young Huntress. She looked over at Sora, beginning to doubt herself. "You're sure about this? You really believe he was hurt that badly?"

Sora nodded, eyes darkening. "It was... bad," he said hollowly, remembering the damage that had been done to the young Huntsman. His fists clenched on the arms of the chair he sat in and his gaze fell on Ren. "Really, really bad."

Ruby sighed and shut her eyes. After a couple seconds, she nodded at the Keyblade wielder. "I believe you."

"You can't be serious," Qrow muttered, shaking his head bemusedly. "Ruby, sometimes you have to trust your own eyes above anything else. He was not hurt that bad."

"And sometimes, Qrow, you have to trust your Heart above anything else," Sora told the Huntsmen, his eyes set as strong as his Heart in this matter. He looked over at Ren, brow furrowing. "Besides... why hasn't he woken up yet? If he wasn't hurt, shouldn't he have already woken up?"

Qrow wanted to reply, but he had to admit that had been bugging him, too. He growled and threw his hand across his body. "Fine," he growled. He jammed his index finger at Nora. "But it doesn't matter, because the people in charge are going to want your head. After Yang's outburst last year, regardless of the fact she was tricked, people are going to be going nuts. They'll think every student from Beacon has no self control, so the Vale council is gonna -"

"Then I withdraw!" Nora snapped, bringing her face, tears streaming down her cheeks with eyes puffy and red. She shook her head vigorously, water flying from her face and glittering in the air above Ren's unconscious form. "I wasn't going to be much use, anyways. I... I should be here with Ren."

Sora, Ruby, and Jaune glanced at one another, worried for their friends. "Okay, Nora," Jaune said, walking over and placing his hand on her shoulder. "We'll do you both proud."

Qrow threw his hands up and growled. "Fine. I hope that's enough to placate everyone," he sighed. He pushed off from the wall and crossed his arms. "I'll go tell them you're dropping out and try to get them on our side again. If I even can." He walked over to the door and cast another forlorn glance over his shoulder at the unconscious Lie Ren. His frown deepened for a while as he stared, then he turned away again and left the room.

Everyone else looked over at Nora, who was staring Ren's face sadly. Her shoulders heaved up as she held in a sob for a moment, then lowered one finger to her partner's nose. A single, sad word was uttered: "Boop."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby stared at her opponent, forcing herself to shove thoughts on the last fight and Ren's injuries from her mind. She couldn't do anything to help him right then, and staying in the tournament was the only way to help Beacon. Still, the young woman couldn't help but let her mind wander; from what she remembered, she'd seen Agni and Yoru talking when they'd dragged Nora kicking and screaming away from Ren. She had hoped she didn't get thrown into a fight with one of their other team mates; that would be lousy luck.

But her luck had been good. She was facing a warrior from Atlas instead. He had a whip made from advanced, bendable metals that hit with an intense force; there were channels for different kinds of dust built into spikes that protruded along the length of the weapon, plugged into a revolver group of different types of Dust at the base of the weapon. In typical Atlesian style, he wore all shades of gray and white; it was like a military uniform out of a futuristic sci fi show, complete with a silver, crop length military jacket over a tight, lightly armored white shirt with silver fatigues and gray boots. The weapon? White. There were, granted, a few red accents here or there, like the inside of the jacket's collar or its zippers. Ruby was beginning to wonder if the Schnees also produced most of the Atlesian fashion, too.

"Okay, this fight is, as you all know, the first following the recent... breakdown of Nora Valkyrie. To ensure that does not happen again, we've implemented a few new rules," the announcer explained as Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from her back. "The other members of each team will not be allowed to watch from ring side, instead they will stay in the crowds. Any fighter who behaves as Miss Valkyrie did will be summarily removed from the tournament and be held under watch until further notice. Finally, all warriors not involved in an active battle will have their weapons confiscated to avoid the possibility. Now, for Ruby Rose of Vale versus Asimi Kravgi of Atlas to duke it out!"

"So, you're friends with that crazy girl, then?" the Atlesian soldier asked, his icy blue eyes flashing condescendingly. Ruby let her eyelids fall to convey how unimpressed she was with him. "If you want to talk to someone who isn't off their rocker, we could -"

"Fight!"

Ruby shot forward before he could finish his thought, Crescent Rose whipping around to collide with his side. Asimi grunted in pain as he was thrown to the side, though he landed safely not far away. "I think maybe you should stop talking," Ruby pointed out, firing off Crescent Rose again and delivering a flurry of blows. Asimi managed to dodge the first few blows, but soon found himself thrashing to either side as Ruby's speed caught up with him and her spinning weapon found him. He was tossed away again.

"Fine. I'll let my actions speak for me," he countered, slamming the base of his weapon into his hip. The dust container hissed for a moment, then massive gusts of wind began to channel through the skin of his whip. He raised it above his head and the weapon shot forward, cracking as it snapped suddenly towards the Huntress. Ruby jumped past the attack's range easily, but was surprised when a blast of pure sound slammed into her chest and sent her flying. She brought Crescent Rose down in front of her, its blade digging into the ground until she dragged to a stop.

"And Mister Kravgi reveals his Semblance! Control and amplification of sonic waves; it goes amazingly with his weapon, which generates a massive source of sound every time he uses it!" the announcer screamed. Ruby leveled her gaze on the Atlesian, who held both hands up, appreciating the roaring cheers of the crowd. They wanted her to lose! She narrowed her eyes, deciding that she wouldn't give him the privilege of beating her! Which meant she had to figure out a way around his Semblance; despite her Semblance, she was pretty sure she wasn't faster than the speed of sound.

She looked around at the crowd screaming for the Atlesian, who was still showboating. Either he was too stupid or prideful to use the surrounding noise as a weapon, or he had to use a source of noise close to him. Her eyes drifted for just a moment to the jumbotron; his first blow had dealt a pretty significant blow to her Aura, evening hers out at around fifty percent while his hovered just below twenty from her assault. That meant she only needed one good hit on him to win. Of course, so did he.

Ruby shouldered her weapon, aiming her weapon behind her as she formulated her plan. His weapon's biggest use was that it could keep people at a pretty significant distance, especially combined with his semblance. Unfortunately for him, it didn't have any real defense capabilities. In fact, the wind Dust's only use was to speed up the snap of the whip in order increase the sheer noise generated. Which meant that his greatest strength, in very cliché fashion, was his greatest weakness. He wouldn't expect a direct attack on his weapon. Who would? And once it was out of his hands, so was the battle.

Ruby stared directly into the smirking boy's eyes so he would believe he was her target. She fired Crescent Rose and the Atlesian laughed derisively. "You trying to hit me?" he asked, snapping his weapon forward. The tip cracked loudly, sending a wall of sonic energy down directly in front of him, where he believed Ruby was going to be.

She instead activated her own Semblance, turning into a torpedo of red cloth and flowers. She passed just outside of the sonic attack's radius, her weapon a deadly blur that she brought around directly into the Dust container of the Atlesian whip. She continued rushing away, sliding across the ground as the Dust in the container sparked and ignited violently. There was a deafening explosion a moment later; fire, lightning, ice, and many other types of elements came into being behind Ruby and died out. As she stopped, she twirled Crescent Rose around her body, deactivating it and clipping it to her belt just as the loud _beep_ signaling a win by Aura loss could be heard. "Yeah. _Not_ trying to hit you," she said, glancing over her shoulder at the unconscious Atlesian. "Too bad, though. You have a _really_ cool weapon!"

"Aura out!" the announcer shouted. "What an _explosive_ ending to a fight, huh?" The crowd laughed half heartedly along with the joke.

"Jeez, did they get Yang to do the announcements?" Ruby muttered, glancing up at the announcer's box.

"Anyways, it appears that Miss Rose will move on to the next round! A big round of congratulations for the young woman!" the announcer shouted. There was a quiet roar from the contingent of Valens, even a few from her Mistralite friends somewhere in the crowd. Otherwise, dead silence.

Then she heard the only voices that mattered. "Yeah, Ruby!" Sora shouted from the crowd, his voice chorusing with Jaune and her uncle Qrow's, the intensity of the noise drawing the attention of the entire crowd. "I got three words for you: Great job!"

Ruby looked right at him. "That's two words!" she shouted back, shaking her head. He just held his thumb up at her, eyes shut and a massive grin on his face. She just smiled back at him, then turned around and sighed before offering her hand to the recovering Kravgi.

"Wow," he muttered, taking it and letting her pull him to his feet. He rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't mean to flirt with a girl in front of her boyfriend."

"W-we're n-"

"Then ask him to the dance," the Atlesian suggested with a shrug and a smirk. He collected his whip and shook his head at his loss. Then Kravgi turned to walk away and shot a real smile over his shoulder. "Riveting fight, Rosie. Just do me a favor and win this thing so I don't look bad, okay?"

Ruby smiled at his back. Kravgi wasn't as much of a jerk as he seemed, it turned out. "Don't worry. I plan on it," Ruby responded excitedly.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Yes!" Weiss whispered, clutching the portable television tight between her hands as Ruby won, looking like an action hero with the placement of the camera and the explosion causing her cape to whip upward. Weiss smiled down at the screen, where she had seen her best friend take out an Atlesian student. She hated to admit that, yes, Ruby was indeed her best friend. It really would ruin their whole dynamic, with Weiss being constantly disappointed and Ruby questing for approval and friendship despite that. But alone? Sure, she'd admit they were best friends.

Then Weiss looked down at the screen again and, despite her attempts to hold it in, laughed. Ruby was blushing and smiling shyly; the camera panned to the crowd and Weiss finally understood why. There was a boy flashing her a grin wider than a river, with one thumb raised. "She's got a crush!" Weiss hissed, laughing quietly at her friend.

"Ugh, and it's on that damn _Qrow's_ pupil," a voice muttered. Weiss flinched exaggeratedly, the portable screen flying upward as Weiss continued cringing. She didn't want her father, who had taken her Scroll because she'd been talking with her... Neptune, to find out she was watching the tournament where her friends from Beacon were fighting. A black gloved hand snapped out, grabbing the portable screen then retracting

Weiss turned around to see at her sister. "Winter! Oh, it's just you," she said, relieved. "When did you get back?"

"You should be more aware of your surroundings," the Atlesian Specialist noted, turning the screen right side up and sitting next to her sister, still in full battle uniform. She smiled down at Weiss. "I don't want Father taking this from you when I went to so much trouble to get it to you."

"You'll go to any lengths to disrespect _his_ authority," Weiss noted, crossing her arms and shooting a sidelong look at her rules loving sister. Weiss knew she had a thing for rules, but Winter... well, Winter almost had a love affair with them, a stark contrast to the man she hated – and focused on – most: Qrow Branwen.

"I respect authority that _should_ be respected," Winter responded. She looked back down at the screen. "I take it you saw Qrow's apprentice in his fight?"

"Of course," Weiss said, hurriedly taking the screen back from her sister. "I counted no less than twelve mistakes."

"Really? I counted fifteen," Winter muttered, always one to one up her sister. "None of them very... Qrow like."

"You really study him a lot," Weiss muttered, causing the elder Schnee to flinch.

Winter turned on her sister, stammering. That entertained Weiss; her sister was rarely ever flustered."Y-You must know your rival better than you even know yourself," Winter hissed. She shook her head. "We must always know how to defeat our rivals."

Weiss nodded. "I know. You've told me a thousand times," Weiss said, growing bored as every single time flashed through her mind. She gestured at the door. "That's why I've been studying Dad."

"Planning on running away, then?" Winter asked, amused. She shook her head at the younger Schnee. "Well, when I decide you are ready, I shall help you, Sister."

"Thank y- When _you_ decide?" Weiss asked indignantly.

Winter looked down at her sister. "Tell me, how much Lien do you have saved right now?" the elder woman asked.

Weiss opened her mouth to respond, but the only sound that came out was, "Errr... Erm... Um..."

"I see. Do you think that's enough to buy a ticket to Vale? Which reminds me, how much does a ticket to Vale cost?" Winter continued, smirking at the young woman. Weiss shut her mouth and glared up at her sister, who laughed. "Indeed. So, tell me about your friend's fight. I was on my way here during the battle."

"Ruby did great. Figured out the best way to beat Kravgi," Weiss pointed out.

"Kravgi... ah, yes," Winter said. She nodded. "That boy dreams of becoming a specialist as well. Too bad he showboats far too much. Given Miss Rose's performance in the Vytal Festival and during its aftermath, I would have been disappointed if she _hadn't_ defeated him. The General was rooting for her as well, even over his own students. Your Headmaster ta—took great interest in Team RWBY, as the General has told me. And the General held Ozpin in quite high regard." Winter looked down at the screen. The battle was between a blonde woman in blue and white with twin swords and a gun wielding Atlesian. The battle was going... poorly for the Atlesian.

"Winter..." Weiss began, drawing her sister's intrigued attention. Weiss was rarely this nervous, with her head hanging worriedly so she only looked at her sister from the tops of her eyes. Weiss sighed and shook her head, knowing it would be pointless to think about it right then. "So... what do you think about that Sora kid?"

Winter smiled softly. "He is far different than I would have expected from one under... _Branwen's_ tutelage," she explained, face souring as she uttered Qrow's name. She began listing off the differences, placing her index finger on the outstretched finger as she moved down the list. "First, he is far too naive – he was congratulatory and open with his opponent. Much like your team mate, Ruby Rose. His style of fighting was... unique, to say the least; large keys and a style of combat that looked as if it were self taught entirely through combat experience. Third, he seemed more interested in playing around than actually fighting. And finally... he's stronger than Qrow. I highly doubt he was actually taught anything by that dusty..." Winter growled and blushed, eyes angry.

"You... don't like Ruby's uncle?" Weiss asked, honestly confused. For Winter, the line splitting the behavior for love and hate was... thin and blurry at its most defined points.

"Obviously," Winter responded, crossing her arms. Steam was basically coming out of her ears as she stared angrily at the wall. Her icy gaze turned to her sister. "Why?"

Weiss cringed and shook her head. "No reason!" she assured nervously. Her sister was one of the few people in her family she liked being around, the only one of her sisters who wasn't a vapid, money obsessed child who decided to take it easy and act as secretaries in the Schnee Corp and its subsidiaries until finding a man. No, Winter understood the hunger, the _need_ to go out and do something great with her own two hands instead of merely watching those things be done. "Winter... thanks."

The Specialist smiled at her sister again. "Of course, Sister. It's my pleasure," she said, reaching out to pull her sister into a hug. "I'm just sorry I couldn't get you a Scroll."

"He'd just find out and take it again," Weiss muttered, shrugging as they separated. She looked down,t hen back up at her sister, one eyebrow raised. "Are you _sure_ you don't like Ruby's uncle?"

Winter's usually snow white face reddened. "And on that note, look," she said, pointing at the portable television. "It's that blonde boy who you say used to flirt poorly with you. Let's watch his fight, Sister."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora, Ruby, and Qrow watched Jaune and his opponent enter the arena. Jaune looked more confident than he'd ever felt before, walking tall to the center of the ring with his sword and shield at his sides, his steps fluid and calm. Ruby thought that he looked like a Huntsman, and was proud of her friend. This was televised across all of Remnant – which reminded Ruby, she had to say hi to her sister and dad next after her next fight – so Jaune's father was probably watching. When Jaune won his fight, he'd be showing his family that he'd succeeded where they'd thought he wouldn't.

"I really wish I could stay here and watch," Sora grumbled next to Ruby, pouting in disappointment. He shook his head and cross his arms. "Ugh, no fair. I want to see Jaune beat that guy up."

"Well, you'll get your chance tomorrow," Qrow responded, placing his hand on the Keyblade wielder's shoulder. "If we find out everything that we need to know tonight, that is."

"I know, but..." Sora groaned and glaring down at the arena. He sighed and stood up, looking over at Qrow and frowning sadly. "Okay, fine. Let's go."

"Don't worry, Sora," Ruby told the Keyblade wielder, patting his arm. "I'll tell you how it all goes, frame for frame. It'll be like you were right here watching Jaune kick butt!"

Sora smiled at the girl. "Thanks, Ruby. Be back soon." Sora waved to her before walking off with Qrow to spy on the group that Sora had a bad feeling about. The two walked in tense silence for a while, the memory of their last meeting alone weighing on both men's minds.

Finally, Qrow broke the silence. "So, what are the other worlds like?" Qrow finally asked, glancing over at Sora with earnest wonder in his voice. Sora looked back over at the older Huntsman, eyebrows raised; he hadn't expected Qrow to ask that. "You know, unless you'd rather talk about your thing for my niece."

Sora's eyes widened. "So there's a lot of different types of worlds," he explained, voice higher pitched than he would have liked. He coughed to clear his throat. "Uh, over all there are three Realms they're divided into. Those in the Realm of Light, where Light encompasses everything. The Realm of Twilight, between Light and Dark. And... the Realm of Darkness, filled with destruction and monsters." Sora laughed. "It's funny, I've never been the person who knows the most about this stuff in a room!"

"Sure. And now you're the only one," Qrow muttered, shaking his head at how easily his ally was excited. "Victory by default. Hoo-ray."

"Do you want to know more or not?" Sora asked the Huntsman. Qrow shrugged, then sighed and nodded. "Okay then. Well, like I said, there are a lot of worlds. My friend Simba is from a place where there are only animals; he's a lion. Twilight Town is a lot like Vale, a pretty normal city. My friend Ariel was a mermaid princess who lived underwater and wanted to become human. Her dad, King Triton, didn't like that. Jack Skellington is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. And Peter Pan doesn't grow up – he lives in -"

"Neverland," Qrow finished, narrowing his eyes on the Keyblade wielder.

"Yeah... how do... how do you know that?" Sora asked, honestly confused. "Most worlds aren't even aware of the possibility other worlds exist!"

"Sora... there are stories and legends about some of these places," the Huntsman explained, stopping for a moment beside the Keyblade wielder. "Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up. King Triton and his evil sister, Ursula the Sea Witch. These are stories I've heard since I was a little kid." He examined Sora, wondering if the boy was just crazy. Of course, that probably meant Qrow had gone crazy too after everything he'd seen so far.

"Huh," Sora muttered. He shrugged and continued walking on, fingers laced behind his head. Qrow stared at the boy for a moment, then followed the Keyblade wielder. "Maybe someone from Remnant was a Keyblade wielder and spread those stories when they came back. Hm... I wonder what Triton and Ursula were like when they were younger."

Qrow shrugged. "I'll tell you the story another time, maybe," the Huntsman said, placing his left hand in his pocket. "For now...let's talk about your obvious thing for my niece."

Sora looked up angrily and protested. "But you said -"

"I just asked if you'd _rather_. I didn't say we weren't going to talk about it later," Qrow explained with a victorious smirk. He laughed at Sora's blushing cheeks and how he had begun glaring shyly at the ground. "You know, I had this whole speech lined up for the first person to try and date Ruby. She's pretty naive, so I was going to go full on 'scary dad'; Tai doesn't really look the part, so I just knew it would just fall to me to be all threatening. Oh, so many threats lined up. I would talk about cutting off his toes, burning him alive. Personal favorite was just throwing him weaponless into a group of Grimm if he did anything to try and take advantage of her."

"Well, you're very scary, Qrow," Sora assured, knowing the veteran Huntsman would likely be able to live up to any threat he made. And more, probably. "You can tell me the speech."

Qrow's eyes widened. "Wow, just like that, huh?"

"I don't know. Maybe," Sora said, running his hand up and down his left arm. "I've spent a lot of time with Ruby, but... there's... I don't know. There are people waiting for me, Qrow. I'm going to have to leave Remnant and go home. And there's... I don't know."

Qrow shook his head, realizing now that Sora was really just a kid. "I can't make your choices for you, Sora," the Huntsman explained, his voice both bitter and apologetic. "I do know from being one of the two options for someone that it doesn't look like an easy choice, and it hurts a lot of the people involved the longer it goes on. Not every story has a happy ending. Sora, I don't want Ruby to be like me, so make _a_ decision sooner than later." Qrow looked up and gestured at the wall with his head. "We're here."

Sora nodded dumbly and followed the Huntsman towards the door to Yoru's team's locker room. "Keep an eye out for anyone," The older warrior pulled a small device from his pocket and planted the machine on the ceiling. There was a slight whir as it drilled into the wall and its outer shell disappeared into the shadows. Qrow pulled out another one and walked to the other side of the door, letting it drill in just above the doorway. Then he grabbed a third and placed it carefully into the nearest air vent. "Okay, now for their room. Then we'll be able to hear everything they've got planned... if they have anything planned."

Sora nodded and remained silent, his thoughts locked elsewhere. There was a loud beep that echoed from the arena. "And the winner is Jaune Arc of Vale!"

Sora smiled when he heard that. "Well, obviously."

 _ **R W B Y**_

The rest of the first day had gone by without any more problems. Neptune and the rest of Sun's team mates had made it through to the second round with little difficulty, each of their wins accompanied by huge cheers from the Haven-based crowd. They hadn't heard anything in their surveillance of Yoru and his squad as of yet. They seemed pretty quiet, overall actually.

Right then, it was the middle of the night. Everyone at the school was asleep, waiting for the second day of the tournament to begin. Sora, however, was laying on the roof of the dormitory staring up at the sky. He was silent as he held Kairi's charm above him, considering everything that Qrow had said earlier that day. "Not every story has a happy ending." Sora clutched the charm tighter and let his hand fall to the roof. He'd always wanted to use the Keyblade to make sure everyone got a chance at a happy ending, and he'd succeeded so far. Roxas, Xion, Terra, Ansem the Wise. They all had their lives back now because of Sora; they could all be happy. Why couldn't everyone have a happy ending? Sora shut his eyes. He'd never met Pyrrha, but he knew that she hadn't had a happy ending. But why? Did bad things just happen to people sometimes? Sora didn't want it to be like that. He wanted everyone to have a happy ending, to help them find what they wanted free from the Darkness. He didn't want anyone to get hurt even a little.

And yet, here he was, scared of making a decision because he was scared of hurting someone important to him. He didn't know if either girl thought of him in _that_ way... or if he even thought of them in that way. He remembered thinking about Kairi like that, maybe. But was that just childish infatuation? Did she think of him like that too? And with Ruby, it certainly felt more serious when he thought about it, but was that just because he'd been around her all the time recently? For that matter, did she even think the same of him? Anyways, it wasn't like it would be the end for either girl. They were both mature people, after all, and had both fought off monsters and villains. This would be nothing. But still, Sora was afraid for some reason.

"Ugh, this is awful!" Sora groaned, slamming his palms into his eyes and growling at the sky. "Why does thinking have to be so hard!?"

He opened his eyes and raised his fists to the sky excitedly, the charm in his hand clinking as he did. Thinking. That was his problem. Sora was a Keyblade Master! He's not at his best when he's thinking about a problem, instead it's when he's just charging in without a second consideration and doing what his Heart tells him to do! He clenched his fist and placed it atop his chest, summoning the Keyblade. "Give me strength," he muttered to the weapon, causing it to glow in his fist. He didn't notice, though, as his eyes were shut and he was already asleep.


	12. Dual Duels

**AN: Hey everybody! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter of the story. I'm happy that everyone thinks I'm not over-maturing Sora. I mean, half of his charm as a character is how he stays as open hearted as a child, but at the same time he's probably still growing up.**

 **For this chapter, there's not really an official height for Sora. Given how he looks only a few inches shorter than Goofy in some of the promo stuff for KH3 and given this takes place another few months after that 'ends,' I'd say he's probably around 5' 10'', a conservative estimate, to 6' even, if we're being generous. Goofy's usually around 6' 3'' in the casting calls for Disney Parks, so Sora looking around half a foot shorter would put him around that height with another small growth spurt.**

 **To gamelover41592: Qrow didn't pick up the call. I pictured in my head that he saw the call was from Taiyang and just kind of... put the Scroll down as quickly and quietly as possible. He knew what it was about, and he didn't feel like getting screamed at and threatened by his former team mate who probably knows some of his deepest fears.**

 **To Keyslinger Roxas: Yes, the Keyblade's glow is a harbinger of things to come, and not just for how Sora will understand and decide upon his own feelings for Ruby and Kairi.**

 **On a 'tangent,' does anyone else think it's weird that a Keyblade does things only someone with a Heart can do? It can form connections with the Hearts of people and Worlds, choose those it deems worthy as wielders, and even seems to have a mind of its own during a fight. Huh, weird.**

 _ **Chapter 12: Dual Duels**_

Sora yawned deeply as he sat up, rubbing his face absently with his empty hand. He groaned as the basket of the Keyblade _clank_ ed against his forehead, and he quickly dismissed the weapon. He scratched cheek and yawned again, only half remembering everything he'd thought about the night before. He remembered, mainly, that it was important. Other than that? Well, even since becoming a Keyblade wielder Sora had a reputation for being more than a little absent minded. He shrugged. If it was important, he'd remember it eventually. "Sora! Sora! Where are you!?" a familiar voice called.

The Keyblade wielder yawned again and forced himself to his feet. "Up here!" he shouted, walking to the edge of the roof and grabbing the edge. He moved to dangle over the ledge, then let go and dropped, falling until he grabbed hold of the window ledge for the dorm he shared with Ruby and Jaune the night before. Nora had refused to leave Ren's side at all, electing to stay with him until he finally woke up. Ren had healed well so far, but it wasn't finished yet; there was still no telling when he'd wake up. His Aura had yet to even recover to a normal level. "What's up, Ruby?" Sora asked as he vaulted through the window, a smile plastered to his face.

Ruby was dressed in pajamas still, her pants white and adorned in her trademark flowers. Her black tank top had a heart with sharp, wolf like teeth and red eyes. On top of her head was a night mask with glowing red eyes. "Did you sleep outside?" Ruby asked, wishing she'd done the same. She blushed and admonished herself – _Not like that_. Then she placed one hand on her hip and shook her head to clear it. "Did you sleep in your clothes?"

Sora looked down and gripped his vest between his thumb and forefinger. "Um... I guess so," he responded, grinning sheepishly at the girl. He looked over at the source of a sudden snore. "Is Jaune still asleep?"

"Well, yeah. It's still pretty early," Ruby explained. She gestured in the general direction of up. "Today's matches don't even begin for another couple hours."

"Oh. Well, um... Wanna get some breakfast?" Sora asked, gesturing out the window.

Ruby smiled. "Sounds great! Just let me take a shower," she replied excitedly. She hoped that some time alone would give her an opportunity to maybe ask the Keyblade wielder to go to the dance together.

Sora shot her a thumbs up. "Awesome," he replied, grinning widely and shutting his eyes. "I'll wake up Jaune and call Qrow!"

"Oh. Right. Yeah," Ruby muttered, smiling half heartedly. "Great – you do that. Then you should probably take a shower. You reek."

Sora frowned and sniffed the inside of his sweatshirt. He cringed as Ruby walked away, his face twitching at the stench. He hadn't cleaned up since before his battle in the Collosseum the day before. "Good thing I have an extra thing of clothes," he muttered to himself as he walked over to Jaune's bed.

About an hour later, they were all sitting together eating. The four warriors knew it didn't feel the same without Ren and Nora, but they'd already boxed up some food for both of them. They hoped Nora's perhaps unhealthy fixation on pancakes would do her some good in getting a smile back on her face. But they weren't only there to enjoy themselves. The group had some business to talk about, too. "Fine. So, they sent over the teams that they put you three in. Aride's been a friend ever since I saved her kid's ass a couple years back; she CC'd me on all your info," Qrow explained, pulling out his Scroll after Ruby admonished him for shamelessly flirting with the waitress right then and there. He swiped the screen a few times, entering a message from the school's Headmaster. "Jaune and Ruby'll be team one. Should be smooth sailing, given how you two did in your fights yesterday." Then he looked over at Sora. "And you're going to be alone."

"Are you worried?" Sora asked. He cocked his head to the side and smiled at the Huntsman. "Oh, you care!"

"Shut up," Qrow growled at the young man, who had gotten laughs from his friends. "But, given how you fought yesterday, I have a right to be. You fight like that again, I doubt you'll win a two on one fight."

"I was being cautious," Sora explained as he raised his hands defensively. "Usually I'd be all for just laying in to him, but we need to find out what Xehanort and his lackeys have planned here, right? Better if he doesn't know we're on to him."

Qrow blinked once. "That's... a good reason, actually," he muttered. He stared more intently at Sora. "Have... have you gotten smarter since our fight?"

Sora grinned at the compliment. "Oh. Never mind," Qrow muttered, shaking his both his head and his hand side to side. "Must have been a one time thing."

Sora nodded, then stopped. "Hey!" he shouted as his smile disappeared. Qrow laughed at the Keyblade wielder for a short while, even earning some chuckles from the kids. Finally, he stopped and shrugged an apology at Sora. Sora just sighed. "Is there anything else we need to know?"

"Well, just a vague worry, really," Qrow said, frowning as he did. He slouched in his chair and stared at his whiskey infused coffee. "They didn't release any of the Grimm they have stored here yesterday. Not a single one. Which, okay, sure. It wouldn't have been too fun to see two kids take out a bunch of weak Grimm. I may just be worrying about nothing. Maybe they'll let some of the Grimm loose today. But if they don't... it means I think I know what they're going to do."

"What?" Ruby asked her uncle, slightly scared by the fear on his face.

He shook his head, as if waking himself up, and his smirk returned. "Ah, nothing you need to worry about, Kiddo," he said, reaching out and ruffling the young Huntress's hair. "At least not yet. If it comes down to it, I'll tell you guys tonight. 'Sides, the food's here. Let's talk about something a little less dark, huh?"

"How about this voicemail from Dad?" Ruby asked, pointing down at the Scroll as the waitress left, shooting Qrow a flirty smile as she went. He waved goodbye and grinned at her as she did. Ruby sighed and just pressed the notification; the screen flashed for a moment.

"Oh, this can't be good," Qrow muttered, already covering his face as he saw what Ruby had done. He slid slowly down in his chair and pulled his cape over his head. "Ruby, why did you do this in publ-"

"First unheard message:"

" _DAMMIT, QROW!_ You said you didn't know where she was you Dust blasted, drunk... _bastard!_ " screamed an incredibly angry, fiery voice. The entire restaurant turned slowly to look right at the Huntsman, who was busy trying to find a way to disappear. "And don't you dare try to pass it off as ' _When I said that, I meant I didn't know_ _ **right then**_!' Qrow, I am going to personally murder you! I will flay you! I will... I will buy all of the things I need to go bird hunting, and then me and Zwei? We will hunt together. Now, I know Ruby's probably listening to this, so you better take this off speaker phone before I get _really_ graphic with my threats!"

Qrow's hand shot out and pulled the Scroll to his ear, obliging his old team mate by turning off the speakerphone function. He flinched every few moments, the grimace on his face growing. At one point, he threw his hand over his mouth and looked like he was about to throw up. Sora grimaced sympathetically. "I guess I know why he told me not to piss off your dad," he muttered to Ruby before tearing into his food.

"Well, I think I know which parent Yang takes after," Jaune whispered to her from the other side of the table. He moved to eat, but stopped and shook his head as he watched Sora eat. "And just like that, I'm going to wait a few minutes to eat. Dust, I thought Nora was bad."

Qrow, meanwhile, was growing steadily more terrified. Finally, he removed the Scroll from his ear and activated the speaker phone function again. "Okay, now that I've made my threats that... ugh, Qrow will inevitably ignore because he doesn't want to face up to responsibility... well, he better have turned the speaker phone back on so I can say hello to my little girl! Ruby, sweetie, I hope you're doing okay. Brushing your teeth every night and morning, right? Dental hygiene is really important to anyone's physical health, and a nice smile makes you more confident. And you're staying away from any _boys_ , right? Remember, we agreed no dating unless he's afraid of you. That's why Yang was allowed to date at Signal."

Ruby blushed and buried her face in her hands. "Dad!" she squeaked angrily.

"And, since I know that you are going to make it to the end of this tournament, there's no reason to tell you to come home. You're too much like your mother to leave something like that unfinished," Tai said with a heavy sigh. Sora could practically hear the man shaking his head in defeat. "So I guess that the only thing I can say is good luck. You show them what a Beacon graduate can do!"

"Second unheard message:"

"Qrow, why the hell did I hear Yang humming to herself about Ruby having a boyfriend!?"

At that, Ruby flailed for a moment, smacking the Scroll from the table. It clattered against the floor and died. "Really?" Qrow dryly asked his niece as he picked up the broken piece of tech.

"Wha appenped?" Sora asked. The oblivious Keyblade wielder looked up from his plate with a mouth completely full of food.

Jaune sighed sadly and pushed his plate away from him. "I'm going to need a to go box," he told the waitress who had walked over to their table to ask them to turn off the Scroll. He shot a glare at Sora. "I've completely lost my appetite." Sora ignored him, somehow stuffing more food into his mouth.

"Don't worry. I understand," the waitress told the knight, staring in both awe and disgust at Sora's style of eating. "Dust, do I ever understand."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora shouldered the Kingdom Key as he stood at the center of the arena, directly across from a pair of warriors from Ruby's school. One was a young woman in a cocoa colored sweater-shirt that ruffled around her throat and black pants embroidered with gold. She had a brown-black cinch around her waist and a matching scarf tied around her neck above a collection of beaded necklaces. Her belt was the same color as her shirt, with a large, gun-sight shaped buckle hanging low on her fight hip. The belt itself was adorned with a collection of golden brown bullets. From the belt hung a black skirtlet. Matching her belt was the strap of a purse hanging from her shoulder. On her face was a pair of pure black sunglasses and a beret overr her brown hair, one long collection of strands slowly turning to an orange-like caramel brown. She looked to be just a bit taller than Sora in her black heels.

The other girl was a Faunus, with a pair of long, brown and pink rabbit ears growing from the top of her similarly colored hair, which reached down to below her waist. She was wearing a crop length brown jacket with stone-like golden armor on her upper arms and forearms. Beneath that was a black shirt. Her belt that hung off kilter on her waist was similar to the golden armor on her arms. Beneath that was a pair of what looked to be brown jeans covered by black and gold combat leggings topped with the same armor as above. On the small of her back was a large, black and gold tool box. She was a lot shorter than her partner.

The taller girl pushed the top of her glasses down and stared over the rims at Sora with a huge smirk. "Well, hello there," she said, grinning flirtatiously at the Keyblade wielder. "You busy after this?"

"Coco, maybe later would be better?" the Faunus girl suggested, crossing her arms nervously. "Besides, look at Ruby." The girl gestured at the red clad huntress in the stands, causing all three in the arena to look over at her. She was glaring directly at Coco.

The taller girl laughed once and flicked her glasses back into place. "Well, that's too bad," she told Sora. She shot him another grin and Sora chuckled uncomfortably. "But, I'm not suicidal. Yang would... well, Yang if I tried that."

Sora glanced between the two. They didn't make for the most conventional friends, but he knew from personal experience that was a good thing sometimes. "Hi, I'm Sora," he said, deciding to put off wondering what the girls had been talking about for the moment. He waved and grinned at them.

"Coco Adel," the taller girl replied. She smiled while examining the young man. "Your style is pretty interesting, Sora."

Sora blinked as a camera flash half blinded him. "Sorry!" the Faunus girl exclaimed, causing Sora to look over at her sheepish, nervous smile. She was holding up a camera that she hurriedly placed back into her toolbox. "Just getting ready for the fight. What type of weapon is that – oh, and I'm Velvet."

"Ruby's told me about you guys," Sora assured the two Huntresses. "Team CFVY, right?"

"The one and only," Coco stated simply, raising her hands to either side. "And, unfortunately for Ruby, the end of the road for you."

"You're that good?" Sora asked, smiling at the two. "Well, still: good luck. I'll try not to hurt you guys, but I sometimes don't know my own strength."

"Funny," Coco said, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at Sora above the rims of her glasses again, unamused. "I was actually about to say the same thing, Kid. Because, unless I'm not paying attention, there's two third year Beacon students on this side of the arena, and one second year apprentice on your side."

Sora shrugged, the Keyblade bobbing up and down with the move as the arena's terrain machines decided on the battle's surroundings. The barrier containing the center of the arena flashed and disappeared, another one appearing to surround the innermost half of the arena. There was a slight whir and the land surrounding Sora, Coco, and Velvet shook to reveal a desert covered in large boulders on one side and a city scape on the other with a group of shorter buildings surrounding a single, ten story building. "Wow," Sora exclaimed as he looked around at the sudden change. "I mean, I heard about this stuff from Ruby, but that doesn't make it any less crazy! They built a city just for us to destroy in a fight? Awesome!"

"Well, you're certainly enthusiastic," Coco said as she gripped the top of her purse. "I bet we'll give you an A for effort." She flicked her wrist and Sora laughed as a large minigun erupted from the body of the purse. "Did he just... laugh? You know, usually that's not the response I get. Let me try again." Coco deactivated her weapon. "I'll give you an A for effort!" she shouted, whipping out the weapon again. Sora just grinned at her and shot her a thumbs up. Coco's head fell slightly. "Great. He's crazier than Ruby _and_ Nora."

"I guess I can see where you'd think that," Sora said, scratching the back of his head. He looked up at the clear sky and smiled before returning his gaze to Coco and Velvet. "Like I said: good luck!"

In the stands, Qrow sighed. "They don't stand a chance, do they?"

"Nope. Ren told us Sora took missiles to the face last week and just smiled," Ruby said, shaking her head, sympathetic to the loss her school mates and friends were about to receive.

"Fighters... Begin!"

Sora raised his Keyblade defensively as a barrage of golden brown bullets suddenly flew right at him, the attack tearing apart the faces of some of the boulders that stood behind him. He, meanwhile, was keeping a close eye on the bullets, making sure to only deflect the ones that were coming too close. "He's damn fast," Coco muttered as Sora blocked another bullet and began to step towards her. The Huntress growled to herself. "Velvet, now!"

"Right!" Velvet responded, reaching into her pack.

Sora looked over, eyebrow raised, as Velvet ran to a stop a short distance from him. She widened her stance and Sora's eyes bulged as a series of white-blue lines erupted into being around her hands, forming a minigun identical to the one in Coco's hands. Sora groaned as another huge flurry of bullets flew towards him, intersecting with the first at a right angle in the exact place where he stood. He flipped backwards through the air, landing and deflecting the bullets to try and escape. Velvet ran the length of his jump before he landed, however, and he was stuck trying to block two streams of bullets. "I guess they don't need luck," Sora said happily as he dodge rolled at an angle, out of both stream's paths.

He rolled to his feet and sprinted towards Coco before her fire could turn to him. He raised the Keyblade and slashed at her, only for his attack to be blocked by her bag, reformed from its gun mode. She rolled around his blow and Sora grunted as her leg snapped into his midsection then she spun around him again and delivered a drop kick to his chest, sending him flying into one of the boulders.

Sora sighed and dusted his shoulders off. "Fun! I guess I should start trying, too," he said, readying his Keyblade at his side and grinning at the two girls again. Coco growled and readied her gun again, unleashing a huge stream of shots that dragged across the ground and sent dust billowing up around Sora before the stream hit him. She roared as she continued to fire the gun, until she heard the sound of stone cracking.

"Nice try," Sora said from the other side of the desert. Coco turned and gasped as a flash of light traveled through the stone. A moment later, the stone was flying towards her, spinning and splitting so that its two halves flew towards both the girls. Coco leveled her gun at the stone and, with another few seconds of shots, demolished the stone that flew towards her. Velvet, meanwhile, just agilely jumped over the one rushing towards her. However, Sora appeared next to her while she was midair and brought his Keyblade around. The weapon crashed into the surprised Faunus' side and she was sent flying directly into Coco.

Sora ran past the two girls and towards the buildings. "Oh, no you don't!" Coco snapped as she pushed herself to her feet. "Again, Velvet!" She fired her gun again, the bullets landing just behind Sora's heels as he ran. Velvet did the same a moment later after reforming her copy.

Sora continued sprinting towards the buildings, eventually jumping up and running straight up the tallest one's side. "How is he doing that!?" Coco shouted as she continued firing. She growled and shook her head a moment later. "Aim above him, we'll catch him in the middle."

"Right," Velvet noted, swinging the gun up, then down.

"Wow, you guys are getting close!" Sora shouted as the streams converged. He raised his Keyblade. "Reflect!" A white sphere erupted into being around him, sending the bullets flying back at the two young women standing side by side.

Coco's eyes widened and she raised her weapon defensively. None of the bullets hit, however. She lowered her weapon to see her team mate standing before her with a copy of Jaune's shield and a copy of Pyrrha's shield above that one, the two having formed a wall to block all the projectiles. "Where is he?" Velvet asked as she lowered the outlines and looked up at the building. The shields disappeared from her wrists.

There was another flash like the one that had cut through the boulder, except this time it went diagonally through the very center of the tallest building. It began to slide sideways a moment later, only to be launched towards the two young women. "AGH!" Coco shouted, her usual confidence gone. Velvet stood before her, shaking her hands manically. "Make his weapon! MAKE HIS WEAPON!"

"I'm trying!" the Faunus girl shouted back. "It won't -" She was cut off as the building slammed into the two. There was a huge clamor, the sounds of shattering glass and breaking steel blending together in a cacophony of destruction as the wreckage dragged across the ground.

Sora followed the building a moment later, Keyblade raised before him. "Gather!" he shouted. The rubble began to shudder on the ground and slowly rise, eliciting a huge gasp from the crowd. Sora sprinted under it, disappearing in the cloud of dust that had risen from the crash site. A moment later, from the other side of the impact sight, he came out with both girls over his shoulders. As he cleared the wreckage, the buildings slowly stopped rising, then slammed into the ground. The dust shockwave caught Sora, obscuring him from view once again. There was a pair of buzzes as the dust cleared to reveal Sora grinning next to the dazed, defeated members of Team CFVY. "That was a pretty good fight. You almost had me there for a second," Sora told them as they recovered. He raised his Keyblade above him, causing the crowd to gasp, worried he'd attack them like Nora had attacked Agni. "Heal." There was a soft chiming and the wounds disappeared from the two girls bodies and their Aura levels on the jumbotron suddenly rocketed up to full. The crowd let loose a collective grunt of confusion at Sora's actions, their fear gone. They began to laugh, a few of them even cheering at his actions. "We should do it again!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Okay. Well, for any future plans, I'm never trying to fight that guy," Mercury told Cinder, pointing directly at Sora as he did. The young Keyblade wielder was busy helping the cleanup crew move the remains of the building out of the way with his magic so the next fight could begin. He didn't even look like he'd just been in a fight with two of the top third years in Beacon Academy. More like he'd taken a brisk, ten minute walk, actually.

"For once, I agree with Merc," Emerald muttered as she stared down at the unassuming grin that hid Sora's terrifying level of strength. "I don't think anything we've learned would stand up to _that_... no offense to your teaching."

"None taken," Xehanort said with a shrug. "In all honesty, I am of a mind with you. Sora is far too strong for any of you to fight in a two on one battle, let alone one on one."

"You sound worried, old man," Cinder said, a mocking smile on her face as she glanced at Xehanort out of the corner of her eyes. He turned his angry gaze on the young woman, but she merely shot a small, defiant smile back at him and returned her eyes back on Sora. Her face was having trouble conforming to its usual feigned disinterest as she stared at the boy. She hadn't been lying – Xehanort _did_ sound scared right then. And that intrigued Cinder more than anything else she had seen in the past two days, which meant Sora could be quite the useful tool in the near future.

Cinder was no fool. Xehanort was the kind of person who would just as easily betray her as he would teach her. As soon as he decided that Cinder's usefulness was at an end, regardless of whether Salem protested, he would place Cinder in the position of either defeating an enemy much stronger than he believed her to be or dying at that enemy's hands. She understood. It was exactly what she would do after all, and likely _would have_ if Roman hadn't died like a fool at the hands of a Grimm. Well, one less loose end to tie up, she supposed. She shivered inwardly – she hoped those words were never uttered about her.

Cinder looked up as there was a massive crash; Sora had finished cleaning the arena. She turned her gaze up even further, watching as the screen began to flash as the next fight was chosen. Emerald and Mercury in their disguises came up on the left side of the screen first. That was followed a moment later by a pair of students from Haven Academy – one Sage Ayana and another Scarlet David.

"Amethyst," Cinder said, turning to the Emerald and using her false name. "After you and Agni win your fight, please check in on our guest. I don't believe he has been fed since we... hosted him yesterday morning."

"Of course," Emerald said, bowing her head deferentially to her leader.

"Could you please at least try to be more of a kiss ass when you talk?" Mercury whispered to Emerald with a smirk. "I don't think your nose is quite brown enough."

"I'll give you a black eye if you don't shut up," Emerald hissed at her partner. Mercury just snapped his teeth together and growled flirtatiously. That earned him the black eye he'd been promised when Emerald's fist slammed into his face.

"Ow..." he groaned, rubbing his face. "You better make that disappear!"

"Maybe. Maybe not," she said as she stood up and walked to go and get her weapons.

He grinned as she passed him, his eyes following her. He glanced over at Xehanort who scoffed and shook his head. "Wow," Mercury muttered, jumping to his feet to follow Emerald.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"So you think those guys work for Cinder Fall?" Sun asked as Scarlet and Sage limped out of the arena. He grimaced as his eyes followed them – their loss had been brutal. "Well... it does my bruised pride some good, I guess." He looked over at Sora, Ruby, and Jaune, who were sitting with him and Neptune in the crowd during Sage and Scarlet's fight. "I knew Scarlet and Sage were better than that! And Ren. How is he?"

"Uncle Qrow's checking on him," Ruby explained, frowning down at Agni, who was taking in the applause of the crowd like a champion. Nora attacking him had made him a hero of the people, and he appeared to love the applause that accompanied his every attack. "Nora hasn't left his side, even when the Huntsmen tried to cart her off for detention."

"She punched through the cell's wall and went on the run for a few hours," Jaune explained to the Haven students.

"Wait. Those crashes were her?" Neptune asked, eyes and mouth wide. "Ren's a brave man. Or stupid. Or in love. I'm not quite sure which."

"The last," Jaune, Sora, and Ruby chorused. They glanced between each other and laughed again, high fiving one another gleefully.

They eventually stopped laughing. "Well, if there's one good thing to come of this, it really looks like Nora is going to have to confront her feelings for him," Ruby explained, smiling at the sky, shaking her head, and chuckling.

Jaune looked over at her, where she was sitting next to Sora. Their hands weren't even inches apart on the bench and they were grinning and laughing with one another. "So! What's everyone thinking of doing for the dance!?" Jaune inquired loudly, causing both Ruby and Sora to fall backwards and slam into the ground, hands to the sky.

"Nice," Neptune told the knight, patting his shoulder while laughing at the two younger warriors.

"Th-the dance?" Sora asked, suddenly remembering his conversation with Qrow the day before and his wondering to the Keyblade and his own Heart the night before. He gulped nervously as he pushed himself back up to a sitting position. "I-er..."

"Cutting off his toes."

"Great, now I'm hearing Qrow in my head," Sora muttered. He worriedly put a hand against his forehead.

"No, I was just saying what I'm going to do when I get my hands on that Agni kid," Qrow explained from behind Sora. The Keyblade wielder held in a shriek as he turned around to see Qrow's evil grin locked on him. He pulled out his scroll as he continued snickering at Sora's expense. His face palled after a moment as he opened his scroll – he apparently carried a second one for 'work emergencies.' "Your, uh, your hunch was pretty close. Hell, wait till you hear this recording. I nearly -"

"It looks like the next fight has been chosen! Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc of Vale versus Fade and Lalanje Hallows of Atlas!"

Qrow sighed at that and pocketed his scroll with an exaggerated groan. "Well, nothing's going to happen today, and I'd rather we do this together and when we have the time," he stated, gesturing at the arena. He looked over at Sun and Neptune who began to glance between one another and Qrow as the older man sized them up. "And you two are already in too deep. Drop by the medical station tonight at six-ish. No, make that five. A meeting will help me cut back on the alcohol."

"You really are trying to quit!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Not right now, Kiddo," he told Ruby, ruffling her hair. He pulled out a flask and took a deep drink from it. He brought it down and tightened the top. "For now, you've got a fight to win."

Ruby groaned. "Ugh, fine," she muttered standing up. She cast a look at Sora. "Um... let's talk later."

"Sure," Sora said with an unassuming smile. He laced his fingers behind his head and grinned as wide as he could. "Good luck, Ruby! Jaune!"

The two Huntsmen smiled back at the Keyblade wielder and went to go collect their weapons from the lockers in which they had stored them. "What do you think your uncle meant about Sora's hunch being 'close?'" Jaune asked Ruby as they entered the locker room and began to punch in their codes. Ruby's locker slid open first and she pulled out Crescent Rose, buckling it to her belt. Jaune grabbed Crocea Mors a moment later.

"Who knows?" Ruby asked with a shrug. "At this point, I'm not sure if anything about those guys would surprise me."

"Yeah," Jaune agreed, leading to the arena entrance. He frowned as they neared the wide open road of stone and dust. "Ruby... these people hurt Ren a lot. When we see them tomorrow, I don't know if I'm going to be... I don't want to lose anyone else."

"I know the feeling," Ruby said, placing her hand on the knight's shoulder. "Believe me. Losing people doesn't get easier, and it doesn't hurt less over time. You just get stronger. And Jaune, you're a strong guy, so I know you'll be okay. Worry about this fight today, and we'll save the world tomorrow. We're Huntsmen, after all! We'll live up to the task." She slapped his back and walked into the arena.

Jaune smiled after her. "Thanks," he said before following her.

When Jaune and Ruby entered the arena, their opponents were already waiting for them. Both were young women, who definitely looked like sisters. One was dressed in an outfit that – much as her name would suggest – faded to black. The top of her leather jacket was white, turning to grey at the bottom, a color that continued at the top of her jeans that slowly darkened until they matched the black boots into which they were tucked. Her hair was a glistening white and her eyes a dark brown; her face was serious. The other was about the same height as her sister, dressed in different shades of orange. She wore a buttoned up vest as her shirt that was a brown like orange with a pair of caramel colored leatherized jeans. She wore open toed, orange sandals. Her hair was a fiery orange and her face was covered with a bright smile. On her right wrist and hand was a dull orange vambrace and glove that glowed with Dust. Her eyes matched those of her sister, though they seemed brighter. "You're the one who defeated Asmini," Fade said, narrowing her eyes on Ruby.

"That _would_ be me," Ruby admitted, grinning and scratching the back of her head. "Why? Are you guys friends?"

Fade and Laranje glanced at each other and grimaced, the expression making them look like mirror images. "Hardly," Fade said, an annoyed look on her face. Her gaze fell and she sighed. Her voice came out exasperatedly. "He's our team mate."

"Oh... um... too bad," Ruby responded as she drew Crescent Rose and placed it over her shoulder. Jaune followed suit and drew his sword and shield.

"Wow! A scythe!" Laranje shouted excitedly. "I love rare weapons like that. They're so cool!"

"Calm down, Sister," Fade said, reaching to the small of her back and pulling out two small disks. She swung them out to her sides, causing three blades to spring out from both in a circular shape.

"Oooh! Glaives!" Ruby said, dropping her weapon to her side. "I don't think I've ever seen someone use one in real life before! That's so cool! Good weapon!"

"Right, they're pretty cool!" Laranje said. She threw her arms about. "They're all like 'whoosh., slash!'"

"I didn't know there was someone out there who loved weapons as much as me!" Ruby shouted, excitedly jumping from side to side.

"Me neither!" Laranje responded, squealing happily.

"There's two?" Fade asked Jaune as she readied her weapons before her.

"Apparently," the knight responded as he raised his shield in front of him and his sword above it.

"Wait till you see my weapon," Laranje said, raising her bracer in front of her. Ruby noticed that the bottom had four containers of Dust on it – fire, electricity, ice, and stone. Laranje smiled. "It's not really a 'show and tell' type thing, but it's fun in a fight!" Then she reached onto her left hip and pulled out a single, bright orange pistol. "And it pays to be prepared, too."

The terrain randomizer finished its selections – behind Jaune and Ruby popped up a wheat field. Behind the Atlesians was a field of steam geysers and lava. "Into the field?" Jaune whispered.

"M-hm," Ruby agreed as she narrowed her eyes on their opponents. She had no clue which one was the more dangerous one, but she was sure she and Jaune could take them. But, still, better to start from somewhere they could launch a quick surprise attack to get things started.

"Fighters... Begin!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

In the seediest corner of Vale's poorest district, there was a bar that looked a little seedy even for where it was. Situated between a pawn shop that was really a fence and a boxing gym that was really the site of an underground gambling ring for street fights, this bar was smack in the middle of an area of the Kingdom where almost everyone was a Faunus or a criminal. A lot of the time, both. The patrons of that bar were no exception, and even Blake Belladonna alone in her booth was willing to admit that. The young cat Faunus sighed to herself as one of Weiss' favorite terms ran through her mind – "Ruffians," Blake muttered to herself, shaking her head in disappointment.

Blake looked over the top edge of her book – yellow eyes catching sight of two angry looking Faunus boys whispering to each other about the White Fang being their heroes. Usually, Blake would be worming her way into the conversation; since the Beacon Incident she had been trying to figure out Adam's motivations for helping Cinder or his next target. She'd even gone so far as to dye her hair brown, stop wearing her bow, and and begin wearing yellow so she wouldn't be recognized. So far, she'd had little luck, aside from learning that whatever Adam was looking to attack wasn't in Vale. Apparently, only his top lieutenants knew what was about to happen, and Blake knew she wouldn't be able to get face time with them without being recognized, so she just waited for something to fall through the cracks.

That day, however, was not dedicated to her search. Well, not entirely. She was still searching for information, but she could enjoy herself at the same time, no? That day was dedicated, like the next day would be, to watching the Beacon Relief tournament going on in Haven. She had heard about it coming up for a couple months and had decided to ignore it at first. Until she heard about a girl in a red hood with a scythe and how her team was at the center of the biggest battles and controversy in the entire game. After that, Blake knew she had to watch Ruby fight. Which of course also meant watching Sun's fights as they also came on.

During the review of the previous day earlier in the broadcast, Blake had seen that Ruby was partnered with Jaune, Ren, Nora, and some very odd boy she'd never seen before. During the third singles battle, Ren had been knocked unconscious and Nora had decided to assault the boy who had defeated him. That had, of course, resulted in her immediate disqualification from the tournament and being placed under intensive guard by Huntsmen at all times. Blake's heart went out to her, knowing from personal experience the pain that came with the people you care about being hurt. She clenched her jaw. She ran away from it every time.

Blake shook her head and returned her attention to the screen. Ruby, Jaune, and this Sora boy were all still in the tournament. From what Blake had seen during Sora's battle against Coco and Velvet, he was incredibly powerful; given the stories and rumors that Blake had since heard from White Fang agents about Ruby's uncle Qrow, she was willing to accept that Sora was his student. _And_ that most of those fantastical rumors about the shadowy Huntsman were true.

Jaune and Ruby were doing excellently, too. Blake had known that for her team mate that was a given. She'd never expected Ruby to fall in battle against any normal student. The real surprise was Jaune. During the Vytal festival he'd been... dependable. But now he seemed to have become just as strong as Pyrrha had been. Even with only three people, Blake was sure that Ruby's team would be the ones who claimed victory in the tournament.

Speaking of, Ruby and Jaune's fight was about to start. Blake saved her place in her book and placed it on the table before staring intently at the screen. Ruby and Jaune jumped backwards into a field of wheat as soon as the fight started, disappearing from view. The Atlesians didn't seem to mind, however, as the one in black threw her strange weapons in the air. They spun upward, then stopped to form two platforms that the orange girl jumped up, one then the next before leveling her vambrace at the field. She slammed the bottom of the bracer, then clenched her fist. A jet of flames flew from her knuckles towards the wheat as she jumped off of the top glaive and the weapons fell.

Just before the fire was launched, there was a circular disturbance in the wheat. A half second later, a young man was shot into the sky, shield first. The white shield collided with and dispersed the flames, and Jaune shot through towards the orange girl. She grinned and lowered her other weapon, pulling the trigger. A huge explosion collided with Jaune's shield and he was sent flying to the ground.

At the same time, the girl in black and white had caught her glaives and tossed them at the wheat. The discs slashed through the top half of the wheat, destroying Ruby's cover. As they passed over her, however, Ruby stood up and grinned. She shot Crescent Rose over her shoulder and flew towards the Atlesian, bringing her attack around to slash. Blake's eyes widened slightly in interest as Ruby _slowed down_ as she approached the outstretched hands of Fade. Her attack whipped around, missing the Atlesian's face by a few inches. "And that's the second time that young Fade Hallows has demonstrated her semblance during this fight – Gravity. Anything that weighs less than her she can control its source of gravity."

Blake grimaced as Ruby shot backwards towards the glaives, which Fade was also controlling. Ruby's eyes widened and she brought her scythe about, the attack slamming into the bladed weapons and throwing them off course. Ruby fell to the ground and rolled to her feet in the wheat. She turned around and rocketed away towards where Jaune had landed. As she got near, she pointed towards the lava grounds and the two ran towards the geysers. Blake smirked as she put together what the two were going to do.

Jaune jumped forward and slammed his shield into the closest geyser, Ruby jumping onto his shoulders. A moment later, the two were shot towards Fade, whose eyes widened in surprise. Ruby jumped off of Jaune's shoulders, turning into a torpedo of red as she activated her semblance and began firing off Crescent Rose behind her. Fade raised her hands in front of her to try and stop the young Huntress from attacking her. Ruby's tremendous speed began to slow, but Ruby was going way too fast. When she brought Crescent Rose around over her left shoulder, she was still going fast enough for the impact of her weapon to send her opponent flying into the geyser field and fall face first into another one that was about to explode. There was a loud buzz. "Aura out!"

That only seemed to make the orange girl – Laranje, Blake remembered – excited. She raised her gun towards where Ruby was about to land and fired it off. The projectile crashed against the ground at Ruby's feet, sending her tumbling across the ground, Aura dropped to seventy percent from the force of the impact. Laranje fired off again, the projectile approaching Ruby as she pushed herself up. She readied herself to jump out of the way, only for Jaune to jump in the projectile's path and block the attack with his shield. Laranje laughed and rushed at Jaune, slamming the bottom of her bracer again; it began to crackle with blue energy.

Jaune swiped at her head, and she ducked beneath the attack before delivering a quick blow to his side. Jaune flinched as the electric shock was administered and he stumbled to the side. He brought his shield down to block her next punch and jumped back as the electricity traveled through it as well. Jaune growled and grit his teeth, bringing his sword around in a flurry that Laranje managed to dodge each and every time. She grinned confidently and jumped back later and later. Jaune grinned a moment later as the back of her legs were hit by Ruby's scythe and she flipped in the air. Jaune's sword came down on her midsection, sending her crashing into the ground with a thud that shattered the stone. There was a loud buzz on the television – "Aura out! And the winners are Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose of Vale!"

Blake raised her hands to clap, but stopped herself when she realized where she was – in a bar surrounded by people who despise Huntsmen. Her hands clasped together instead and she forced a scowl onto her face before reaching to grab her book. She lifted it and examined it closely, though she was really just focusing on the fight she'd just seen. Ruby had done well, all things considered. She'd just been unlucky to get attacked as soon as she hit the ground. Blake knew she would have dodged the second attack, even if Jaune hadn't interfered. But he had, demonstrating how much faster, stronger, and braver he had become since Blake had last seen him.

" _The Key of Destiny?_ " a voice asked as its owner stopped by her booth. She looked up at the waiter as he placed her grilled salmon in front of her. He raised a clawed hand to his face and scratched his grizzled cheek. "What's it about?"

"A war," Blake explained as she shut it and reached excitedly out towards her food.

"Between?"

Blake sighed and stopped raising a bite of her food. Why did the entire world insist on interrupting her as she read or ate? Still, she had an image to maintain; for the sake of Remnant, she would act... perky. "Heroes of the Light and Darkness," she explained with a smile. "And how all their worlds ended." She looked down at the cover, on which a simple gold and silver key was placed vertically. There was no author's name; no one could remember who had started the legend or who had written it down first. She raised an intrigued eyebrow – the key looked a lot like the one that Sora boy used. Maybe he was a fan of the book, too?

 _ **R W B Y**_

Qrow sat on the back rest of one of the chairs in the medical station, where Ruby, Sora, Jaune, Neptune, and Sun had come to hear whatever it was that the surveillance equipment had discovered about Yoru and his team, as well as check in on Nora and Ren. The Huntsman had yet to wake up, and Nora was passed out in the chair beside him, her head on top of her arm on the bed. Her hand was placed on top of Ren's, clenched around his fingers. "Let her sleep," Qrow said as Ruby moved to wake Nora up. "We can always tell her later. And... to be blunt, she likely wouldn't be any help all worried like she is."

Ruby sighed, but did as her uncle suggested. She moved back to her chair and sat down. "What is it you want to tell us, Uncle Qrow? What did you find out?"

Qrow merely reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll. He pressed a prompt on the screen, then tossed it onto the table between everyone. It clattered for a moment before laying still and playing its recording. It was a woman's voice. "So, how is our little guest doing? Is he still suitable leverage?"

"He's still alive, Cinder," another woman responded.

"Cinder! I knew they were connected to Xehanort," Sora growled, slamming his fist into his open palm. He began to stand up, raising one fist in front of him and getting a 'hero scowl' on his face. "Let's go get 'em!"

"No. There's more," Qrow said, motioning for Sora to sit back down. He, begrudgingly, did as the Huntsman suggested.

"...the big deal is, Mercury? It's that our guest is how we're going to be getting our little White Fang pawns into the city," the first woman snapped. Cinder – Azure Tremaine as her alias currently was.

"I know, I know," a young man replied. Agni – or Mercury, as it were. He scoffed. "I just meant that we don't need those idiots. Look at all the power we have now: if we want to take down every loser in this place, we'll be fine. The Old Guy over here can handle Keyboy no sweat, and everyone else here won't be a problem to the rest of us."

"I appreciate your confidence, boy," a fourth voice stated. Sora's eyes widened – Yoru! Yoru was Xehanort!? "But what's the saying? 'Pride cometh before the fall?' Do not believe victory is ever assured by your own strength when you can use another to distract any who could threaten you."

"And how's that going for you?" Sora muttered angrily. "Leaving your lackeys around to be stepping stones until someone's strong enough to punch your face in?"

"Okay, sure. Sure, Xehanort," Mercury continued, the recording ignorant of Sora's burn. "But shouldn't we be looking into a replacement for Roman instead of helping the White Fang get all beefy? We can't really conduct the criminal side of things without him."

"Neopolitan is doing fine for now," Cinder responded. There was a short pause. "Which reminds me: Emerald, could you contact her men as soon as possible? We'll need a resupply when we cross the ocean into Vacuo after all this is over. Salem still awaits."

Sora frowned as the recording ended. "So, Sora," Qrow said, drawing the Keyblade wielder's attention. Qrow was frowning just as deep. "What do you think? Have you heard of anyone named 'Salem' before?"

The Keyblade's chosen shook his head. "It sounds... I don't know, vaguely familiar. But I don't know why," Sora said. He placed his hand on his chin and looked up at the ceiling, going through all of his adventures in his head again. "As far as I know, I've never met anyone by that name. But it must be Xehanort's biggest lackey on this w- here. Whoever it is, they have to be bad news if it's Xehanort and Cinder's final objective to go meet this person."

"That was my thought, too," the Huntsman aid, shaking his head and sighing. He crossed his arms and looked over at the unconscious Ren. "And this explains a lot, too. You and Nora said that you saw Ren as horribly burned for some reason? Well, the same kind of thing happened to Yang last year at the Vytal Festival. She attacked someone who everyone else saw as defenseless because 'he attacked her.' Everyone thought she was crazy."

"And then Coco saw one of her team mates right before he'd gotten knocked out of their battle on the other side of the arena..." Ruby muttered. She looked up at her uncle. "And then Pyrrha overdid her Semblance when fighting Penny! Emerald was there... maybe she has a Semblance that lets her generate illusions, then!"

Qrow looked up, remembering something. His eyes flashed in recognition. "I think you're spot on, Kiddo," he said. He slammed a palm into his forehead. "Stupid, should have seen that earlier! Ugh, can't fix the past now. Okay, so those guys are Cinder, Emerald, Xehanort, and Mercury. That still doesn't explain Quicksilver's sudden change of abilities. Dark fire?"

Sora gasped. "Not fire! Firaga – Darkness. He was using Darkness on Ren!" he hissed. He slammed his hand to his forehead and sounded just like Qrow: "Stupid! I've seen stuff like that a thousand times before, I should have recognized it!"

"Darkness?" Jaune asked, worried. His hands clenched the arms of his chair, knuckles white. "Like... like the stuff that Xehanort can use?"

"Yeah," Sora muttered, voice low.

"I've already brought this up to the Headmaster here. She's got Huntsmen looking for the hostage and patrolling for White Fang operatives even now," Qrow cut in when it became obvious Sora wasn't going to say anything else yet. "She's asked we be quiet about it so that nobody panics. The Kingdoms _really_ don't want a repeat of what happened at Beacon, and it would be a lot easier to whip up a frenzy like that with everyone already on edge."

"So what do we do?" Sun asked, looking with fear up at Qrow.

"I'll tell you what we do," Sora said, surging to his feet and placing one foot on the table. He pointed ahead, grinning like a madman. "We're heroes! We are going to fight them as hard as we can, for as long as we can until we win." He looked around, smiling at all the faces present. "Tomorrow during the battle royale, the five of us are going to find Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury on the battlefield and take them down right then and there so we won't have to worry about them later. And then we'll win the tournament for both of our teams."

"I think that might be against the rules," Neptune noted.

"Dude, shut up!" Sun hissed, grinning like an excited child. "Just get swept up in it, Neptune!"

"And once all that's over..." Sora grinned and jammed his thumb into his chest. "You can leave Xehanort to me while everyone else helps take out these White Fang guys. You with me?"

"Yeah!" the entire group roared, surging to their feet with Sora.

Sora summoned the Keyblade and held it above his head. He remembered something he'd heard a memory of Mickey say during his Mark of Mastery exam. "One for all, and all for one! Let's show all of Remnant what just a few people with good Hearts can do!"

"Yeah!"

Throughout all of this, Qrow had just remained where he was sitting, a well hidden smile creeping onto his face. Ruby had a good Heart, just like her mom. And good friends... unlike her mom. The sight before the cynical drunk warmed his heart – maybe if this was the future of Remnant, then things really would turn out okay.


	13. The Calm

**AN: I'm happy that the last chapter was so well received! After this battle-centric chapter, the next chapter will center around the different battles between good and evil. The character who shows up in the last segment of this chapter will be fighting with the person who hurt someone closest to them. After that, we'll slow down for a chapter or two and see the aftermath of the battle and then the dance before entering the stretch leading up to our first real meeting between Salem and our heroes.**

 **To Keyslinger Roxas: I do have plans to change Sora into a different outfit just as the second half of the story begins. It will be a lot simpler than the multicolored one he has right now, and probably with a couple pieces of armor. Probably with elements of KH2 Sora and KH2 Roxas. That's the plan right now, at least.**

 **To toalorikan626: I agree with your assessment that Xehanort should leave something behind. Thanks for pointing that idea out. It won't be one of his reports, however. I'd already planned on Sora finding something later on, but it'll be much better as a taunting gift from Xehanort than from Sora just discovering it.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

 _ **Chapter 13: The Calm**_

Aride Stole was a middle aged human woman with shoulder length, sand colored hair done up in a pony tail and serious, hazel eyes the color of a desert. Unlike her peers, Ozpin and Ironwood, she never wore anything that she would not have worn in her heyday as the greatest Huntress from her home country of Mistral. She wore a form fitting, cream colored tank top underneath a brown, leather harness that split on top of her shoulders until coming down to the strap around her biceps; it crossed over her midsection in an 'X' to attach to her belt and hold up a single holster on her right hip in which a bundle of mechanical, brown rods were placed. She wore long, fingerless gloves that reached all the way up her arms, a much deeper brown than the harness she wore; the gloves allowed her to showcase a simple golden band on her left ring finger. Her pants were green, like an ancient cactus covered in dust, and she wore practical brown boots beneath them.

On any ordinary day, she would be greeting her old friend with a cup of tea that would help flush out the alcohol filling his blood stream, or sit and trade old war stories with the dusty Huntsman. Today was not an ordinary day, however. Today, Aride had to deal with an attack on the place that she had sworn to protect as a place of learning for those who would one day do the protecting. The world could not handle another Beacon, not when it was already so close to the edge. Qrow knew all of this. And he definitely knew her well enough that he wouldn't peg her as the kind to stare out of a window wistfully. "Is something wrong? 'Sides... everything?" he asked the woman.

Aride sighed and turned around to look at him. "Don't play coy, Qrow. You know damn well as I do that this is a very dangerous world we live in, and what we do today could very well decide its fate."

"So just the normal everything then," Qrow muttered, shifting in his seat and leaning back. He cleared his throat and looked back up into the worried woman's eyes. "Ari, we both know everything is going to be fine. We know exactly what's coming, we figured out their plans, and we've got the exact right people to stop them. Once we find out whoever it is that's been kidnapped, we'll be able to stop whatever person it is they're blackmailing. So chill out, make some of that tea. We both know it always calms you down."

"This is not the time!" Aride snapped, slamming her fist on her desk. Qrow didn't flinch, instead just raising an eyebrow. "Not all of us are capable of just drinking our stresses away."

"I take it back. You're a lot more on edge than just the usual stuff makes you," Qrow noted. He shook his head at the woman. "I'll take booze instead of an apology, since I'm so good at drinking my cares away."

Stole sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm – I'm sorry for yelling at you, Qrow. I..." she stopped and groaned frustratedly. "The Council has just been breathing down my neck. If this doesn't go right, the rumors are that Atlas is going to ignite the Dust beneath Vale _and_ Mistral. I'm used to high pressure situations, you know that."

"The battle of a Thousand Grimm," Qrow said, rolling his eyes. "You bring that up every time we see each other. Team STRQ was right there too, remember?"

"Yes. I remember," Aride said, stifling a laugh. "My point is that we're both very used to moments when the shit hits the fan. But this..?"

"The end of the world. Yeah," Qrow agreed, standing up and patting his friend's back. "I get it, Ari." He sighed and walked away, filling up her kettle and setting atop a Dust heater. He continued to talk as he did so. "Even for Huntsmen, this is big, hot, sticky, nasty smelling shit. A big mess of it just laying around. But the good thing about a pile of shit this nasty is that you can see it and smell it exactly where it is."

"You have a... way with words, Qrow," Aride laughed, shaking her head at the Huntsman's special brand of tact. After a moment, however, she glanced back out the window, face plastered with worry yet again. Qrow just watched her for a moment until the kettle began to whistle violently. He picked it up and began to pour the water into two cups, adding in the leaves and mixing them with two small spoons. He turned off the heater and brought the two cups over to Aride's desk. She glanced over at him as he placed one in front of her. "Thank you."

"You need to be calm, Ari," Qrow explained as he sat down across from her. He leaned forward and grabbed his cup and plate, staring at Aride through the light steam billowing upward. "You and I both know that in any sort of battle, the commander needs a level head for anything to work out right. You start freaking out, everything is going to go downhill."

"Qrow, we both know that Ozpin is the commander," Aride scoffed.

"No, he's the general. And he trusts you to do as he would," Qrow assured her as he took a slow drink from the tea. He shook his head. "Damn, this stuff is nasty." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a flask, pouring some of the contents into the tea. He took another sip. "Well, it's still shit, but at least it tastes better."

"He doesn't trust me," Aride muttered. She shook her head. "He doesn't trust any of us. He told us lies and half truths about everything. Us! The people he's says that he wants to save the world. The people he's looked after for decades. His trust is like a death sentence, Qrow. You know that."

"And each and every one of us are counting the days. In the meantime we got work to do." Qrow looked at Aride, studying her worried face. "What else is it? Is something wrong?"

Aride sighed. "You've got me," she said, laughing softly. She shrugged and picked up a picture, turning it around to reveal a young, annoyed man she was clutching tightly. "Chrysos took a mission in the island regions between Vale and Mistral. I'm just worried about my little boy."

"He's twenty three, Ari," Qrow laughed, placing his tea on the table. "Fights just as good as you can, so I wouldn't worry about him. If I hear things right, your kiddo is on the fast track to _be_ you, fifteen years from now."

"I know. I just can't help but worry. Mother's love, you know?" the woman asked. She gestured at Qrow. "Like you with your niece. Ah, don't try to hide it. I see how you get every time I bring her up. Your right eye twitches and your shoulders drag up to look all big and tough. You're scared for her right now."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Qrow replied, waving her off. He checked his Scroll. "Speaking of. Hey, I've got to go watch Ruby's fight. This may be all about saving the world, but I trained her. Professional pride and all."

"I'm sure," Aride responded with a chuckle. "Go. I'll let you know if I hear anything about the White Fang or if the young Huntsman they've taken is found."

"Thanks, Ari," Qrow muttered, absently waving as he stood up and jogged from the room.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora stood shoulder to shoulder with Jaune and Ruby, grinning excitedly. Sure, he'd probably have to fight Xehanort by the end of the day and, sure, he'd probably be fighting against some sort of evil terrorist group that wanted to kill humanity. But, hey, he couldn't help but get excited about finally reaching the end of his quest. He laughed aloud, causing the other two in the entryway to glance at him. "Sora, are you listening?"

The Keyblade wielder looked over at Ruby and grinned sheepishly. "Um... no? I'm just kind of excited here. This could be it! The end of Xehanort and all the bad things he's done all his life!" he exclaimed, jumping up and throwing his hands in the air. When he landed, he wrapped his arms around the two Huntsmen's shoulders. "Guys... we're going to save the world!"

"Yeah," Jaune assented. Then he laughed at Sora and shook his head. "But you should probably pay attention to the recap of the plan."

"Oh, come on! I know the plan," Sora said, grinning and shutting his eyes.

"Then repeat it back for us," Ruby challenged. Sora's grin disappeared. "Come on. You know the plan, right?"

"Um..."

"Ah. That's what I thought," Ruby remarked, crossing her arms and snickering at Sora's embarrassed grimace. She sighed. "Do you want me to repeat everything we were talking about?"

Sora's blush deepened. "Yes please," he muttered.

Ruby laughed while Jaune just slapped his forehead and groaned. "Is this what Weiss thought I was like?" Ruby asked the sky. When no answer came, she looked back down at Sora. "So, Uncle Qrow said that the Headmaster here will probably be able to find whoever it is that's being held hostage, but we need to be prepared just in case they don't. Uncle Qrow said that, because none of the Grimm were released during fights yesterday or the day before, it's going to be all of them today. Apparently, he thinks that whoever it is Cinder is blackmailing is someone who is involved in the decision making for the games, which probably means they have access to the Dust shields."

"They're going to deactivate them with all of the Grimm released," Sora extrapolated. "Causing massive panic and maybe waking up another of those weird giant Grimm you told me about. Okay... but where is it the White Fang fit in to this?"

"They'll be attacking the people in the crowds. If that starts happening, we'll deal with the Grimm while the Huntsmen placed throughout the crowd and the people who lost already will deal with the Fang. After we've taken out the Grimm, we'll go help them," Jaune finished for Ruby. He wormed out of Sora's arm and pulled his blade and shield out for battle. "But before all that, we get to fight Mercury, Emerald, and Ci.." He took a deep breath. "Cinder."

"Yep," Sora said, summoning the Keyblade to his right hand.

"Let's do this," Ruby stated, twirling Crescent Rose into activation.

Sora nodded and walked out with the others into the sun. He was greeted by the thundering rumble of the crowds' cheers, the roar of expectation and excitement for battle. The sun was brightly shining far above, illuminating the huge, multi biome arena that had sunk slightly into the ground. The biomes were two rings, an inner group and an outer. Trees and city rose from the ground, with lava and ice fields stretching across other regions of the octagon. The region that they had used for the two on two battles had already been massive, but this was insane. "How are we going to find everyone?"

"Grimm will probably herd us all together eventually," Ruby explained as they began walking down the stairs leading to their starting region. Seven other teams began working their way in, small black lines moving down the stairs.

"Which one do you think is Sun and Neptune?" Jaune wondered aloud.

"NO!"

The entire group looked over at the source of the noise. One of the groups was headed down to a watery region. "So... that one?" Jaune suggested.

"Know which way we're heading first!" Sora shouted excitedly. He began running down the stairs, followed closely by Ruby and Jaune. "Last one down asks Coco to the dance!"

Ruby frowned at that but took off anyways. She still hadn't had a chance to talk to Sora about the dance. Little did she know, Sora was thinking the exact same thing about her. Jaune was just running, not wanting to be the one to pay for what would invariably be an expensive day trip and scary dance. Unfortunately he ended up last. Sora slid to a stop on the peak of a sand dune, the grains flinging out in front of him. He was followed quickly by Ruby, then a panting Jaune. "Dang it!" the blonde Huntsman shouted.

"Okay, everyone! Here it is!" the announcer shouted excitedly. "The Battle Royale. The rules today are simple. Each team will wander across the arena however they feel is best. Groups of one, two, more. They'll find the other teams, eventually deciding on what they do. Teams _are_ allowed to ally, or they can go all out to fight one another. At the end, however, only one team can win, so keep that in mind. And don't be surprised if a few Grimm pop up – we didn't want to spoil any of the fun by letting them loose early, so we'll get to see how all of you react to a swarm today! Should you all band together to fight the monsters when they're released? Or should you try to defeat your enemies and deal with what may come with only your truest allies at your side? We can't wait to find out!"

"So, which way do you think Neptune and Sun will head?" Ruby asked the others, glancing out over the sand using one hand as a visor. She pursed her lips and bit her cheek as she thought it through. She dropped her hand and ejected the mag of Crescent Rose, checking its ammo reserves. She reinserted it and looked over at the others.

"They'll sprint directly towards the center. Quickest path away from the water," Sora pointed out with a grin. He laughed. "Afraid of water. I don't think I've ever met someone afraid of the water before, you know? It's hilarious!"

"Coming from someone who lived on a tropical island, that doesn't mean much," Jaune muttered dryly. He began readying himself as the announcer droned on, checking if his armor straps were tight, if his shoes were tied, and that his Scroll was focused on his Aura.

"Point," Sora admitted with a shrug, heaving the Keyblade up and onto his shoulder. He grinned at the sky, where, in the Dust wall, was a giant countdown clock. Five.

"After we find them," Ruby said, laughing at the two – Four – "we'll just follow the sound of destruction to find Cinder and her lackeys." He flourished Crescent Rose up and around until it laid across her shoulders, her arms hanging by her wrists from the handle. Three.

"I'm game," Sora said, his trademark excited grin erupting as he bounced from foot to foot like an incredibly excited child. Two.

"Me too," Jaune said with a determined smile. He raised Crocea Mors' shield to his chest, sword out to his side. One.

"Fighters... BEGIN!"

Sora whooped excitedly and sprinted across the sand the way that only a person who grew up on a beach knew how. Ruby and Jaune laughed despite themselves, sprinting off after him with grins just as huge as his on their way to find their friends. "WOO HOO!" Sora screamed as he jumped from the peak of the dune, fist raised above his head excitedly. "Let's win us a tournament!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora back flipped across the cobblestone streets of the decrepit town built into the arena, narrowly dodging the incoming explosion of Dust that burned through the ground where he had stood. "Are you a magnet for trouble?" Ruby yelled at Sora as she parried the attacks of two huntsman – one wielding a pair of gold and brown short swords and the other a great ax of forest green. She twirled around the two and landed a glancing blow across their backs.

"To be fair, you aren't really one to talk!" Sora retorted as he landed, raising his Keyblade to block the incoming war hammer. There was a huge _clang_ as the weapons met, generating a shockwave that caused the buildings on the small street to sway dangerously. There was a buzzer as someone, somewhere, met an Aura out – the noise accompanied by the announcer's voice. In the past half hour of wandering and battle, it was a pair of noises to which their group and all the others had become accustomed.

Sora jumped up to his feet and shoved the Huntsman in training away, the fur and green leather clad warrior sliding across the ground and grinning at the challenge that was present in front of her. Sora grinned back and ran towards her, slashing at her with a series of lightning fast attacks. He had to take it easy on her, after all, or there would be no fun in fighting the trainee. She was quick despite the size of her weapon, moving around Sora's slightly slowed attacks like a snake. He brought the Keyblade around in a horizontal attack, and she brought the shaft of the hammer up to block the attack.

"Could you maybe stop playing around?" Jaune asked as he bashed his shield into his another Huntsman's face, his blow causing his opponent to stumble backwards and flail his mace about From there, Jaune charged forward behind his shield, the metal plate slamming into the unguarded midsection of his opponent. The mace fell to the ground as Jaune began shoving him backwards. Jaune stopped just before he would have rushed into one of the broken buildings, sending the other tourney entrant into a load bearing pillar of the building. It came tumbling down on top of Jaune's opponent, eliciting a loud Aura out buzzer.

"Do I have to?" Sora asked, blocking another attack of the hammer into the air, the momentum sending the Huntress flipping through the air. "I'm having fun!"

"Me too!" the Huntress flying away replied as she shifted the head of her hammer into a bazooka and fired off a series of rockets at the Keyblade wielder. She landed as he knocked the last one back at where she had been floating moments earlier and slammed a piece of debris at Sora as she charged at him. He sliced cleanly through the incoming projectile and began trading blows with the woman again, Keyblade slamming against the hammer's head every few moments.

Ruby, meanwhile, was fighting off both of her opponents with ease. She shot past both of them, blade crashing into one of them and sending him flying into one of the buildings and causing an Aura out and letting Ruby deal with only one of the Huntsmen. "You know, you're pretty good!" he said, dodging around her moves. He laughed as he nearly fell for a feint, the blade of Crescent Rose passing just centimeters above his nose as he rolled backwards and raised his pair of swords in front of him. "You know, I think I've heard about you! Ruby Rose, the hero of Beacon! Wow, it's an honor!"

Ruby blushed and laughed. "Oh, shut up," she said, slashing out with her scythe, the blade landing on his crossed sword block. "Flattery won't help you win."

"Oh, I know," he admitted, struggling against her. "Will it help you save a dance for -" He was soon cut off, however, when a hammer wielding warrior slammed into his side and sent him crashing into a brick wall, the bricks flying up and crashing around the two. Soon, a fire ball flew after them and exploded upon contact. Ruby looked over at the annoyed, growling Sora with an intrigued eyebrow. There was a pair of loud buzzers as the fires disappeared.

He flinched under her glare and chuckled nervously. "I... uh, I... We really need to find Neptune and Sun, right? Just like Jaune said, 'Stop messing around!'"

Jaune looked over at Sora, who was motioning vigorously for the Huntsman to play along. Jaune held in a snicker and shook his head before nodding. "I did say that," he admitted with a shrug. Sora breathed a sigh of relief and shot him a thumbs up. "Which reminds me... which way were we heading?"

"I forgot you had no sense of direction," Ruby muttered, laughing at the two boys before turning to her right and looking around. "Actually, if we were right about where they were and where they were heading... right here."

"Then where are they?" Jaune asked, sitting down to catch his breath for a moment. He sighed contentedly as he leaned back into some debris. "I mean -" He stopped and looked behind him. "D-did you guys hear that?"

Sora frowned and began to concentrate on the quiet. "Um... hear what?"

"I don't... wait! Ha!" Ruby shouted she shot into the air and bounced from rooftop to rooftop. She jumped up, twirling into a torpedo of red and dashing to land beside Sora and Jaune. "There they are!"

"I'll go guard this area! Lockdown!"

"Really, Dude? People all over Remnant are watching us on TV!"

"I don't care, Sun! We're free of that stupid island hopping, ocean filled hell!" Neptune screamed. "I – agh!" He screamed, rolling and tumbling through a fence and coming to a stop between Sora, Ruby, and Jaune. He didn't move, face down on the ground."Ow..."

"Ha! How do you only act like this when it is the most embarrassing for you? On TV, meeting new people? I love this!" Sun shouted as he sailed through the air and landed beside his groaning team mate. The Faunus looked around and grinned. "Hey guys! So, you picked us out of the crowd?"

"It isn't that hard when Neptune over here screams like a banshee every time he sees water," Jaune said, gesturing at Neptune with his head. "I get having phobias, but, Dude? Put on a brave face."

"I'm trying," Neptune whined, his voice muffled by the ground. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and shook his head in pained disappointment with the universe. "Why did it have to be the area where we started this game? Why me?"

"I have no doubt that it's because you and water is hilarious," Sun retorted, laughing at his friend's ireful glare. He walked up to his friend and held his hand out, helping Neptune up to his feet. "Oh, come on, man! You know it even makes Scarlet and Sage laugh, and those guys are stone faced!"

"Doesn't make it better," Neptune muttered indignantly. He brushed himself off and growled at Sun.

"Wait, why'd you say 'lockdown?'" Sora asked, cocking his head to the side in sudden confusion.

Sun smacked his forehead. "Right, forgot! There's, like, six guys after us," Sun explained as twelve feet landed around the five allied warriors. Sun glanced around at the serious, battle ready faces that suddenly surrounded them, then shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, these guys."

Sora looked around and grinned. "I think they're going to need some more Huntsman," he said confidently, laughing as he did. He looked around again at all of those surrounding them. One was a guy with a greatsword, another had a pair of chakrams like Axel or Lea used to use, two used different kinds of gauntlet weapons – one had chain saw like extensions and the other looked like they discharged electricity every so often, and the last two had staffs tipped with blades – halberds. "Last chance to walk away. We kind of don't have time to go easy on you guys."

"I don't really think that's going to be a problem," the guy with the greatsword retorted, lifting his weapon to his shoulder and shaking his head at the Keyblade wielder. Jaune jumped to his feet and drew his weapon again. "You may have fought pretty well in the earlier rounds, but so did we. You aren't making it out of this fight with the gold."

Sora looked over at Ruby and grinned. She nodded. Sora shrugged. "Leave this one to Ruby and me," he said, readying the Keyblade again. It glowed in his hand as he poured magic energy into the blade. He and Ruby disappeared in blurs of black and red respectively, causing the six opposing Huntsmen to jump in surprise.

"Where the hell did your friends run off to?" the chakram user asked, raising her weapons nervously. She grunted as a pair of blurs ran past her, an impact accompanying them that took out a decent chunk of her Aura. "What the -" She was cut off as the black and red blurs began dashing between her and her allies, blow after blow colliding with each of them faster than the eye could see, steadily taking out their Auras. A moment later, Ruby appeared between all of them, crouching and readying to spin.

"Get her!" the other Huntsmen shouted, running at her after recovering. As they grew close, however, she launched herself up faster than she ever had before, the tremendous wind trails pulling the Huntsmen into the air with her. They flailed wildly, screaming in surprise as they tumbled about without control in the grip of the red tornado.

Sora suddenly appeared in the air directly in the path of Ruby, Keyblade raised above him. He was looking down, body parallel with the ground and knees bent. He was holding his Keyblade in front of him, parallel to the ground as well. He grinned and began spinning the weapon before him, generating a vortex of wind just as strong as the one rushing up to meet him.

"How long have they been practicing this?" Neptune asked Jaune as the winds crashed into each other, the resultant explosion of wind sending the six Huntsmen flying across the sky with just enough Aura to survive the tremendous fall unscathed. A second later, a pair of black and red streaks appeared in front of Jaune, Sun, and Neptune, their speed causing the hair of all three to whip about wildly. Neptune looked down at his shadow and shouted angrily – his perfectly coiffed hair had been turned into a wild mane of blue. "NO!"

"Ha!" Sun yelled, pointing at his friend's hair.

"Yours isn't any better!" Neptune raged, his hands vainly trying to fix his messy mop.

"But I don't care," Sun pointed out, shrugging and clapping his buddy on the back. "Once we win this, you can go fix your hair like the vain guy you are."

"Awesome!" Sora shouted, running over to Ruby and lifting her up in a hug. "We took them out even quicker than I thought we would!" He put her down after a brief spin and grinned excitedly. "Great job!"

Ruby blushed and punched Sora's shoulder. "Oh, you weren't so bad yourself," she muttered, waving her hand and laughing.

"I guess you're right," Sora agreed, grinning sheepishly.

"Ohhhhhh," Neptune muttered, gesturing between them. He leaned over towards Jaune, covering his mouth with his hand. "Yeah, it's a lot more obvious when they act like this."

"Yeah, I think even they're catching on by this point," Jaune responded with a chuckle. He coughed to attract the duo's attention. "We should probably try to find the people we're hunting for. Clock is ticking."

Sora laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Right. Sorry about... that," he said, his grin mirrored by Ruby's. "Where, uh, where do you guys think they are? We've been making more noise than anybody else, so there goes our plan for hunting down Cinder and her squad."

"Maybe we should just follow the stench of evil, arrogant airheads who destroy things built by people better than them," Jaune suggested with a frown. The rest of the group looked past him with a cross between sarcastic acceptance and worry. "I'm sure we'll see them picking on people smaller than them for fun because they can't handle anyone else! And then -" he stopped and looked around at the faces of the others. "Great... They're, uh, they're right behind me."

"Wow, and I thought you were stupid," Mercury mocked, smirking with his arms crossed over his chest as he stood behind the young Knight. Out of nowhere appeared a young, purple clad and haired woman wielding twin emerald colored kurasigama, and floating down from the sky was a blonde woman in blue with a condescending smirk that gave everyone it was aimed at chills. Mercury's disguised face grinned cruelly as Cinder landed beside him. "Looks like I was right!"

"Don't be mean, Merc," Emerald said, her violet eyes glinting as she narrowed them condescendingly on Sora and the others. "They'll be crying on the ground pretty soon, after all."

"Wow, you sure got cocky," Sora said, grinning as he swept the Keyblade to his side and pointed directly at his enemies. Despite their pride – or bravado as Sora assumed – Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald flinched as his finger crossed them. "Especially considering the beat down we gave you three last time."

"And you hurt Ren," Ruby noted, twirling Crescent Rose to a ready position, muzzle pointed over her shoulders in preparation to launch towards Cinder as soon as the fight began.

"So we won't hold back this time," Jaune said, the steel in his voice reminding both Sora and Mercury of his sudden change during their last battle. Crocea Mors whistled through the air as the shield moved up to guard the swordsman and the blade angled over his head at the enemy.

Sun and Neptune raised their weapons as well, with the blue haired warrior aiming his assault rifle mode at the trio and Sun holding his weapon in nunchuk form. "And... we, uh, we're here too! So check yourself!" Sun said, drawing the confused and uninterested glares of the criminals. Sun swept his weapons around himself, flourishing them threateningly.

"Cute," Cinder muttered before turning away from them and back to Ruby and Sora. She crossed her arms and sneered. "But, _students_ , I think you'll find this fight will end quite differently than the last. We are not the same weaklings you met in the forests of Vale."

"I'll put it in simple terms so you five idiots can understand." Mercury said, his smirk deepening cruelly. "What I did to Pinky was me holding back. I can't wait to see what you all look like burnt to a crisp."

"Shut up!" Sora snapped, dashing toward Mercury with angry determination filling his eyes. The Keyblade sang as its Light crashed against the Darkness coated blade of Cinder Fall. Over the weapon, Sora thought he saw Mercury sigh in relief, but he ignored that criminal and looked over at Cinder. "Five on three, Cinder. No matter what you say, this won't end well for _you_."

"Even if that is true..." Cinder said. She just let it trail off and smirked again with a shrug. She drew her other blade from her left hip and angled it at Sora's throat. "Take the other four, I will deal with the Keyblade wielder."

"I've been waiting for this," Mercury said, jumping over Sora and firing off a kick, silver dust and black fire trailing behind his foot then shooting off away from it. "I'll take Red and Blue."

"Let's crack some skulls, Merc," Emerald said, tacitly agreeing to take the monkey Faunus and Jaune. She smiled mockingly at her partner for a moment. "Just admit the blonde scares you, Merc." Then she began disappearing from Sora's sight, leaving the Keyblade wielder alone with Cinder.

"Let's do this," Sora growled, taking a step back and letting Cinder ready herself. He was still the good guy, after all. She also knew how to demonstrate decorum and nodded in respect. Cinder raised her blades into a ready stance and Sora dropped into his, eyes narrowing then launched at her with a two handed, overhead slash. "For Ren!"

"For Ren!" everyone else shouted as they began their own battles. Ruby slashed over her head ad the incoming Mercury, blade catching on his foot. He lashed out behind him with his other leg, the explosion of black flames propelling him over the point of contact so he could deliver a heavy ax kick to Ruby. She dashed forward as fast as she could, narrowly dodging the blow and the accompanying black flames that spread out from the impact crater.

Mercury rolled to the side, dodging the swipe of Neptune's trident that came around at his skull, the electrified prongs passing just above his hair. He smirked and grabbed the handle of the trident, pulling on it and delivering a sharp blow to Neptune's jaw. He stumbled backwards, dazed, until a pair of boots encased in black flames slammed into his chest. He flew backwards and bounced across the ground, once then twice, then cried out again when a blur of orange appeared in his path and kicked him back towards where he'd been moments earlier. Mercury grinned and disappeared again. "Like we said, it's gonna be different -" he grunted as he was cut off, a scythe moving even faster than him colliding with his chest. There was a loud bang and he suddenly found himself pinned against a wall. He looked over at Ruby, who was holding him against the wall and began to move his legs to attack her. He was cut off by a rapid stream of bullets crashing into his chest and pushing him further into the wall.

Meanwhile, Sun and Jaune were struggling to hold their own against their invisible enemy. Emerald would appear just for a few seconds, weapons slashing across the backs of both warriors before disappearing again. Sun grunted as he was kicked away and Emerald disappeared again, appearing in front of Jaune, chains wrapped around his throat. She brought her hands forward at full speed, causing the knight to fly over her shoulders and collide with the Faunus.

"Cover me. I've got an idea," Sun whispered as they pushed themselves to their feet. Jaune nodded and looked around carefully for any indication as to where the criminal could be. He caught sight of some dust kicking up on the street. He knew it was no worse than any other place, and lashed out with his blade at the place where he had seen it. His blade crashed into Emerald's weapons, the attack easily blocked by the criminal.

"How'd you know?" she asked. Jaune didn't respond, instead trying his best to press his advantage. His blade flashed in the air, weapon barely missing the illusionist's form every time he tried to defeat her. "Dust on the ground, right? Damn it, every time. Won't screw that up again." She flicked her wrists and jumped backwards, firing off her guns at the Huntsman. He raised his shield just in time to save himself, but that obscured his vision and she disappeared. Jaune looked around, carefully trying to find any sort of mess up she might have managed to miss.

He was distracted, however, by a pair of glowing clones of Sun that flipped around through the air. They both ran towards the same spot, their energy flashing brighter for a moment before exploding. There was a woman's cry and Emerald was sent flying, visible once more. She hit the ground and rolled to her feet, eyes wide with anger. "Enough!" she shouted, form beginning to glow ominously with the energy of Darkness.

"Sun, out of the way!" Jaune shouted, trying to put himself between the Faunus and the criminal. However, he was blasted out of the way by a large stream of Darkness. He had managed to raise his shield, causing the beam to bounce off and change direction. Instead of a blow that might have killed him, Sun was instead just sent flying across the street to crash into the ground. Jaune looked over at Emerald; her disguise was gone, replaced with her true face and an aura of Darkness floating from her shoulders in wispy tendrils. It slowly solidified

Where Ruby and Neptune were fighting Mercury, something similar occurred. Ruby found herself tossed aside by a sudden, massive blast of black flames. She righted herself mid air and landed lightly, weapon raised as she stared intently at the smoking hole where Mercury had been a moment before. "Where'd he –?" Neptune was cut off by a powerful kick to his head that sent him into the ground. Mercury stood where Neptune had moments before, eyes a dull yellow and mouth a sneer as he gazed down at the Huntsman. There rang out a pair of loud Aura out buzzers.

"They... They just changed what they look like!" the announcer shouted in surprise. "Who – What!?"

"Sun! Neptune!" Sora shouted, pushing off of a blade lock with Cinder to fire off a pair of Reflegas around their weakened bodies. The incoming attacks of Emerald and Mercury clattered uselessly against the walls of light, though they still exploded against the spheres spectacularly. The enraged warriors began to wail on the walls uselessly.

The crowd began to murmur worriedly. "What's going on!?" the announcer shouted worriedly.

Cinder growled. "Mercury! Emerald! Retreat!" she commanded before looking up into the camera. She raised thumb to her throat and dragged it across, then ran off and disappeared under the protection of Emerald's abilities.

"Okay, that was weir – " the announcer was cut off when a loud rumbling began to shake the entire arena. "What's -"

Sora ignored both the rumbling and the shouting of the announcer, instead running over to Neptune and Sun with Keyblade above him. "Heal!" he shouted, bringing them back to consciousness.

"I... the headmaster has decided to release _all_ of the Grimm!"

Sora and the others flinched as they heard that. "They couldn't find the hostage!" Sun shouted as he forced himself to a sitting position. He was rubbing his shoulder where he'd been hit; his eyes were wide with fear.

The source of the rumbling came from the center of the arena, the noise echoing through the Colosseum and the city below. After a short while, it disappeared and everything went silent. The entire crowd stopped breathing in worried anticipation. The Dust barrier flashed and fizzled out slowly; almost no one noticed, their eyes fixed on the screens to track their favorite Huntsman across the stadium. "Oh no," Sora muttered. He looked over at Sun and Neptune. "Get to the announcer and tell her to get everyone out of here. We'll deal with the Grimm."

The Mistralian students glanced at one another, then nodded and ran towards the edge of the arena. Sora looked over at Jaune and Ruby. "Now we just have to find a way to get all the Grimm to come to us," he said.

"I don't think we need to," Jaune muttered. He gulped in worry. "Um... Sora. Look." He pointed past the Keyblade wielder's shoulder with his sword, the weapon shaking in his hand.

Sora turned around and his eyes widened. All of the Grimm were headed right for them, a river of pure black flying and crawling towards them with cries of rage and hatred for the Light echoing from their mass of death. "How about that?" he asked, readying his Keyblade by his side. "Spread out." Ruby and Jaune nodded, running apart. "I'll get the four hundred in the middle!"

As they spread out, however, Sora, Ruby, and Jaune noticed one very important distinction from what they'd thought just seconds earlier. The Grimm were not heading straight for _them_. No, they were attracted to something even more tantalizing to their pure Darkness. They were all fighting for a chance at Sora. Everyone in the crowd probably thought Sora was insane at that moment. He was grinning at the massive wall of monsters aimed right at him, Keyblade leveled towards their center. "Well, this should get everyone excited!" Then he sprinted right at the Grimm, his massive grin never disappearing. The crowd didn't know it, but as long as he was the target of the monsters, they were all safe. And he wouldn't have any problems taking all of the Grimm out with his friends by his side; their victory against some silly monsters was all but assured. "GO!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Nora moaned as a noise stirred her from her sleep. She sat up straight and stretched her hands to the sky, yawning as she did. "Sorry, fell asleep, Ren," she told the unconscious warrior as she yawned, the words stretching out because of the yawn. She let her hands fall to the empty bed, and her eyes widened in terror. "Ren! Ren, where are you!"

She flinched as a hand landed lightly on her shoulder. "AH!" she screamed, turning around and lashing out wildly with her eyes shut. All of her blows missed and she immediately calmed down. Only Ren could sneak up on her and avoid _all_ of her blows. She opened her eyes, grinning widely at the calmly smiling Huntsman in training before her.

He looked much better as he was buttoning up his green shirt. There was a small, fiery red patch on his chest that disappeared as he finished clasping the last button, but that was all that was left over from his burns. He ran both his hands through his hair and shook his head so it settled behind his collar and shoulders. He smiled at Nora again and held his arms out to accept the hug she was barely holding in as it was. He grunted as she tackled him to the ground; she was screaming excitedly, crying into his shoulder. "You're awake! You're awaaaaaake! I'm so happy, Ren! Don't scare me like that again, jerk!"

"I'll try, Nora," he said, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Ren smiled contentedly as they hugged for the first time in days. Eventually, however, reality set in. Ren sighed and pushed her off of him.

"What's wrong?" Nora asked, studying her old partner's face. Even given his usual stoic nature, he looked deathly serious, a distinction really only Nora could make when it came to him.

"Something's happening in the arena," Ren said, pushing himself to his feet. He was getting that look on his face and in his stance all Huntsmen get when their duty is at hand: the 'hero' look. "Where are our weapons?"

"Our –? Ren, you're injured!" Nora protested, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. "You can't go off and fight in your -"

"I have to," he interjected, brow furrowed. He shook his head and sighed. "We both do. You can fill me in on everything on our way to help everyone, okay?"

Nora just stared at him. Eventually she scoffed and shook her head. "You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?" she asked, hands on her hips. It felt weird to be the serious, cautious one.

Ren just smiled. "Nope." He held out one finger and placed it on Nora's nose. His face broke out into a much wider grin than he'd ever had on his face in his life, and Ren said, "Boop."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Qrow sat in the crowds as Ruby, Sora and the others dueled with Cinder and her goons. It appeared that Ruby and her friends definitely had the upper hand with Cinder's lackeys. Sora, meanwhile, was dictating his fight with Cinder. His every slash was a calculated movement to keep her from signaling anyone, keeping her busy while also wearing her down with his many glancing blows. Qrow watched the fight with great interest, but also concentrating on waiting for Aride to contact him with good news.

The Huntsman looked around the crowd as a feeling over came him and something felt wrong. He frowned and tried to pick it out, looking over every face and frowning. There... There weren't _any_ Huntsmen in the crowd? Why the hell wouldn't Aride have any Huntsman placed in the crowd? Sure, they'd be guys and girls who were good at hiding, but Qrow could pick out any one. He was good at it; better now that he was... mostly sober. So, again... where were all the Huntsman? Was he losing his touch, then? His smile fell from his face.

Aride had said that the guy who'd been kidnapped was a Huntsman. She'd said that, something he didn't know. She'd acted like he'd told her everything, like he was the primary source of information when it came to Cinder's attack. But if that were the case, how would she have known that... Maybe it was just a slip, he thought. _No, you idiot. You're not missing the Huntsmen because they **aren't there!**_ Qrow surged to his feet and sprinted out of the arena as fast as he could, quickly activating his Semblance when he was sure no one could see him, and flew through an alcove lining the wall and soared out of the Colosseum. He folded his wings and dove straight down, trying to reason with himself in his own mind but always failing to come up with an excuse for his friend.

As he approached Aride Stole's window, he shifted back into his human form and drew his scythe. He fired off its shotgun behind him, causing him to crash through her window and land with a loud thud. He just crouched there for a moment in the glistening glass fragments of the window, shoulders shuddering with rage. He was panting, trying to come up with words. Finally: "Why..?"

Aride just continued to sit in her chair, staring at the wall away from him. "God dammit, Aride, answer me!" he screamed, walking over to her chair and spinning it around. She was crying, tears streaming down her otherwise stoic face. Qrow didn't care, though. He was pissed. "What the hell? Why the hell would you do this? Your son..? He won't be able to look at you! What the hell is he going to say to you – his mother, his mentor – when you're thrown in jail?!"

"I had to," Aride responded sullenly. She looked up into her old friend's eyes, the sadness gone. It was replaced by indignant self righteousness.

"And all the people who die today? That's because _you had to!?_ " Qrow snapped, grabbing Aride by the collar of her shirt and lifting her. "Dust, Aride, I want you to answer me straight! Tell me, because... because the woman I know wouldn't go off half cocked like an idiot to help terrorists destroy everything she loves... the most..."

Qrow sighed and dropped the woman. She landed limply in her seat with half lidded eyes. "So... Cinder caught Chrysos," he said, running a hand through his hair and shaking his head. He turned around and roared angrily, slamming his blade into the wall. There was a huge thud, and Aride flinched, though not at the noise. It was at the noise of her child's name. "Goddammit you should have said something, you idiot. I could have helped you... you aren't even looking for him, are you?"

"They said they'd kill him..." Aride muttered, her gaze falling to the floor. Her self righteous rage was gone. "If I looked, they said they'd know, and they'd kill him. I only get him back if –"

"You don't get him back," Qrow snapped. He whirled on the woman, eyes wide. "You damn well know that. Cinder and this Xehanort guy? They don't give people back."

"I know. But – but they said they'll leave him wherever he is. And now I know he's close enough that they can go find him on campus at any time," Aride responded. She smiled sadly. "Thanks to you, I at least know that much."

Qrow just stared at her, trying to understand. "Y-you... the White Fang?"

"They're already in the Colosseum," Aride said, voice hollow. "Interspersed throughout the crowd for maximum... Maxi – Oh, God..."

Qrow shook his head, running through the checklist in his mind and cursing the entire time. He wished he had a drink right about then, but there wasn't any time. "The shields? The Grimm?"

"I released them just before you arrived. We should receive word of the first deaths soon," Aride said, her voice catching every few words. Qrow could tell this wasn't easy for her. He didn't really care.

Qrow just stared at her for a while. He'd probably have done the same stupid things if Ruby or Firecracker were in danger like that. They were his Heart and soul,; he couldn't let them down. He might even betray everything for one of them... then again, maybe not. They wouldn't forgive him for something like that. "Is there..." Qrow sighed and pulled his sword from the shattered wall. His gaze locked on the Colosseum far above and he shook his head in disgust. He had to get back up there... but he also couldn't leave Aride alone. "You had me be quiet. I knew you thought that was the right play; it's your academy, after all. I trusted you. And now you've made me a part of this. Those deaths are going to be on me."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Qrow turned on her and shook his head in disgust. "I don't want you to be sorry," he growled, clipping his weapon to his belt. His jaw shook as he stared angrily down at the woman. "I want you to tell me the truth. Right now. Is there anything else I should know?"

"One thing..." Aride said, voice hoarse. She raised her hand to point at the Colosseum. "But... you're too late to stop it." Her hand fell, as did her gaze. She placed her hands over her face and began sobbing.

"What do you –?"

Qrow's eyes widened as a huge explosion echoed through the air. Qrow turned around to look up at the Colosseum; a pillar of black smoke was rising from the eastern section. "Oh God no..." the Huntsman muttered. He ran out of the window and jumped. "God, God no. Ruby... please be safe..." He activated his Semblance and flew upwards, hoping he wasn't too late.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Outside of a small cabin on the island of Patch, there stood a solitary woman. Her hair was black, thick, and reached the top of her hips with a dull red highlighting the pitch every so often. Her eyes were a bright red that felt oddly cold despite the heat of the color. She had a long, black scabbard at her hip within which was one of the sharpest swords on all of Remnant. Few warriors could stand against her, and fewer still could survive. She was a cold, angry killer who sought out every kind of fight she could so she could become stronger. So she could become the strongest. That was all she had wanted for more than twenty years, all else be damned. Friends, husband... even her child.

But now, there she was, standing outside of the place where her husband and daughter lived. The invincible, unflappable warrior was... terrified. And not like she was terrified of Salem or Xehanort. No, this was an entirely different kind of terror. Purer, one could say. It filled her entire Heart and caused her hand to waver in a fist just inches from the door. She couldn't, she found, knock on the door. She couldn't do anything to make herself move or think or speak. She let her hand fall to her side after another five minutes and thought about leaving.

"Running away for another twenty years?" Ugh, Qrow's idiotic jokes kept echoing through her mind. But, still, he had a point. She couldn't run away. She could, however, stand there and try to talk herself up. She crept over to the open window and glanced in. Her blonde daughter, who had grown into a beautiful young firework, was watching Summer's daughter competing in the tournament. What an odd thing to think about; she'd never have thought that Taiyang and Summer would have had a child together. Qrow must have never _really_ made his move, then.

Raven growled quietly and forced herself to return to the door. This was her daughter! Her husband! She should talk to them! Try to... she wasn't sure. Fix things? Well, whatever it was that she was trying to do it would start through that door. She stood before it and raised her fist again. She rapped her hand against it three times, each time coinciding with her ever louder heart beat in her ears. _Finally..._ she muttered, hoping everything would at least turn out... well, not terrible.

"I'll get it," Yang told her father. There was shuffling inside the cabin. "Wonder who it could be?"

Raven took a few deep breaths and looked over at the window again. She could just see the TV from where she stood. That was the moment she knew that asking for things to not turn out terribly was a fool's hope when it came to her life. There was a pillar of smoke rising from the arena onscreen, the speakers having automatically gone silent because of the explosion's intensity. Raven glanced between the door, behind which she could hear a lock turning, then the TV. "God dammit Qrow," she hissed before drawing her blade.

When Yang Xiao Long opened the door, she was not greeted by the sight of a visitor who would have both excited and enraged her. She did not see her mother, prepared to reconcile with the daughter she had abandoned for thrills and battle because she was afraid of settling down and building a life. Instead she saw only the spring air; a rabbit bounding across the grass. "Firecracker! God – Yang, something happened!"

"Nobody's at the door!" Yang announced, slowly closing the door and turning around, one eyebrow raised in confusion. "What's wrong, Dad?"


	14. The Storm

_**Chapter 14: The Storm**_

Sora ran along the back of the Nevermore, dragging the teeth of the Keyblade behind him. A long blade of Light was extending from his weapon, slicing through the Dark flesh of the giant Grimm like a hot knife through butter. As he reached the tail of the monster, which was already disintegrating behind him, he jumped from its back towards an uncoiling King Taijitu. "Three oh five!" he shouted gleefully. He brought the Keyblade before him at the open maw of the snake-like monster and unleashed a Firaga Burst, the condensed explosions traveling down its throat. A series of explosions ran up its body from its white head on the ground, ripping it apart until even the fangs closest to Sora disappeared in a fiery blaze. "Three oh six!"

"It's not fair to keep count when they're all only attacking _you!_ " Ruby shouted as she bisected a group of Beowolves that had tried to charge past her. "Two fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty."

"What? How?!" Jaune shouted as he ran a pair of Ursai through. "I'm only at one sixty one!"

"That's still _really_ good given it's only been fifteen minutes," Ruby told Jaune. "You know that, right?" She fired off Crescent Rose and decapitated a Griffon. "Two twenty one."

"Yeah!" Sora agreed as he hit the ground. He rolled to his feet and the Keyblade began to glow red. He brought it down to his side, then disappeared and reappeared behind a mass of Grimm. A moment later, their bodies exploded in bursts of light. "Um... Three forty? What do you guys think?"

Jaune sighed. "Nope. Three fifty," he muttered half-jealously. He bashed in the face plate of a Boarbatusk, then impaled it and sent it flying at an Ursa, its tusks impaling the bear just before it disintegrated itself. "And I'm at one sixty three."

"Great. Catching up, you see?" Sora asked. He flipped over an incoming Deathstalker tail and sliced the stinger off. When he was upside down, he laughed as he saw two very familiar faces run out of the Colosseum's halls – even with their great skills, they had still been driven backwards through necessity to defend themselves – and into the stands just as the last evacuee from that region of the stands ran into the halls. That area had been given priority, with most of the emergency responders going there to help ferry people away from the battle; the rest of the arena was in disarray. "Nora! Ren!" Sora landed and froze the Deathstalker solid. "Guys! Ren's awake!"

"That's -" Jaune began, but he was cut off by a sudden explosion of noise. Sora's eyes widened, the world slowing down in his perception as he saw just what was present in the path of the flames... Nora and Ren were about to die. "N-"

"Stopza!" Sora screamed, freezing everything around him with a massive explosion of magic. He wouldn't let his friends die. The world inside the Colosseum came to a sudden, silent stop as the explosion began to appear from nothingness. He took off at a sprint, struggling to keep up the immensely draining spell until he could get close enough to save the two. He panted as he placed one foot in front of the other over and over, sweat pouring from his scalp and down his face from the strain. He could feel his strength running out faster and faster with each moment; even Mickey had barely been able to hold a Stopza spell on his own, so if he hadn't been scared for his friends Sora would have been proud of himself. It only got worse, though, as he could feel his strength draining to its dregs. Desperately, he lashed out with the Keyblade. "Reflect!" The last of his magic rushed from the tip of the Keyblade and slammed into Nora and Ren just as time began to slowly start up once more. The explosion expanded quickly, soon enveloping the young Huntsman and Huntress and sending Sora flying away with the flames crashing against his Keyblade.

"-ora! Ren!" Jaune and Ruby finished screaming, time having restarted for them at the same time as the explosion. Sora crashed into the ground between the two, grimacing as he tunneled through the ground, stone slamming into his body. He groaned and pushed himself to his feet, Keyblade's tip digging into the ground as he leaned against it. He panted, but kept his gaze locked on where Nora and Ren had been moments before. As the smoke cleared, a small floating sphere of Light could be seen, hexagonal surface spinning midair.

Jaune looked over at Sora, tears welling up in his eyes. He hadn't lost someone else... "Sora... th-thank you," he muttered, knees shaking for a moment. He rushed towards Sora and hugged the Keyblade wielder appreciatively. "I... They -"

"They're my friends too," Sora said, patting Jaune on the back then pushing him away. He gestured over his shoulder at the wall of incoming Darkness. "We've still got to deal with-"

"Oh, do you?" a familiar voice inquired from within the flames. Sora's eyes widened and he jumped forward, tackling Jaune and Ruby to the ground just as a huge beam of black energy shot over them. There was another series of explosions behind them; the Grimm shrieked as they were summarily eradicated. Sora looked up, eyes wide, as Master Xehanort stepped out of the flames in his true form. The old man was sneering down at the three warriors. His Keyblade was at his side, glowing ominously. "I would not let monsters interfere in our battle, Seeker of Light." He held up his off hand and fired a ball of Light straight upward. It exploded, the sparks forming the image of a screaming wolf.

"White Fang! Attack!" someone screamed, their voice carrying through the speakers. It wasn't the announcer, so something must have happened to her. Sora pushed himself to his feet and stared at Xehanort as more of the bone masked terrorists appeared at his side. Sora glanced over at Nora and Ren, who were staring worriedly at them through their Reflega wall.

"We'll go save them. You deal with this," Ruby said as she saw the determined look on Sora's face.

"Good," Sora said, standing up and throwing the Kingdom Key tip first into the ground. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pellet of pure White Dust. He tossed it into the air and caught it, clenching the pellet in his fist and snarling at Xehanort. "Get clear. This is gonna be a big one."

Ruby and Jaune glanced at each other, then ran towards Ren and Nora. Sora let the Reflega wall drop, freeing up his magical reserves to slowly refill. Not that it would matter in a few moments. "XEHANORT!" Sora screamed as he cracked the Dust vial, causing a massive explosion of light to surround his body.

Xehanort began to grin. It was a massive, excited, and evil smile that would have scared anyone except the young man he was about to fight. Instead, as the powerful rays of Light slammed into the powerless terrorists surrounding him, Xehanort raised his Keyblade and deflected the raw energy. He slid back a few inches in the rubble, which caused him to raise an annoyed and, perhaps, worried eyebrow.

Finally, the light died down. Ruby stood beside Jaune, Nora, and Ren, cloak up to help shield her eyes. She was the first one to see what had changed, and it was jaw dropping to the young woman. Sora had already made a reputation as someone who did things that, even on Remnant, were considered impossible and beyond the scope of legend. But this was different. Different even from the last time he'd fought with Xehanort. He was cloaked in pure light, his hood pulled up over his head now had a glowing white crown shaped like his necklace resting at its lip. His vest was still black, though it now had a series of gray, nearly invisible fleur-de-lis running up and down its front. His sweatshirt was a bright, almost shining white that had fused with his gloves, black straps criscrossing up to his mid forearm where another strap ran around the circumfrence of his arm. His pants were bright white, with black, almost dragon shaped swirls running down the sides beneath his black pouches and straps. His shoes remained the same, save replacing the yellow lines with white. The young man was radiating pure, almost visible power.

Sora slowly raised his hands to both sides, then brought them down. Bright white light flashed behind him, and the aura of energy flowing from his body grew twice as large and became a blindingly visible white. Floating across the Keyblade wielder's back was a pair of Keyblades. One was deep black with a chain ending in a crown, a weapon whose color reminded Ruby of a crow's feathers. The other was bright white, with what looked like an exploding star in its teeth; its chain ended with a familiar star shaped charm – Sora's Wayfinder. After a few seconds, Sora's feet slowly began to rise from the ground, the Keyblades floating down slightly from his shoulders, lending them the look of two wings as they spun behind him. "Hope you're ready to lose, Xehanort," Sora said, eyes growing ever more serious. He angled himself forward and began to drift towards the old villain. Sora cast a quick glance at Ruby, and she nodded, grabbing Jaune, Ren, and Nora and using as much strength as she could to catapult them away from Sora and Xehanort's duel with her Semblance.

"Kick his butt, Sora!" she shouted as she soared through the air.

Sora grinned and watched Ruby go for a second before returning his gaze to Xehanort, who had abandoned the ground as well. His Keyblade angled at Sora. "Do try, Child. Can it be entertaining this time, at least?" Sora narrowed his eyes angrily on the old man, then roared and shot towards Xehanort with Keyblades swirling around him of their own volition.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Qrow shifted back into his human skin mid air, spinning before landing at a full sprint through the halls. People were screaming and running around, searching for their family or friends vainly after the explosion. Qrow didn't know how many people had died, but from what he'd seen it had been the result of a full sized air transport front loaded with fire Dust crashing into the Colosseum at full speed. More White Fang being brought in to attack people and keep the Huntsmen trainees in check while they murdered people. "Die filthy humans!" one of their number screamed, appearing before a family. The youngest child began crying. Qrow growled, red eyes glinting menacingly, and grabbed his scythe. With a powerful backhand attack, he sent the terrorist flying. The White Fang member's skull slammed into the stone and he went silent.

Qrow kept running, worried that things were getting worse everywhere. If this kept up... who knew what could happen? If another of those giant monsters was hiding out around Haven Academy, things would only escalate from there. And without any Huntsmen in the arena, the death and destruction the White Fang were unleashing on citizens – _children!_ – would be bound to wake it up sooner or later. The only chance they had to keep everything from really going downhill was to stop Xehanort and Cinder as fast as possible.

Qrow nearly stumbled over his own feet as he ran. Xehanort and Cinder. He'd seen them both in action before, and if they were here, people were going to get really scared. Hell, even if Sora kicked it up a notch like he did last time he'd fought Xehanort and pulled a second Keyblade out of nowhere, that might only scare people more. A fight between people that strong would – Qrow was cut off as a massive wall of black and white, swirling energy destroyed the stone in front of him. He leaned back and slammed his weapon into the ground, the blade slowing him even as he approached the beam of death. He slid to a stop just before hitting it, the heel of his boot touching the energy just barely. "YOW!" he shouted, jumping away from the still continuous beam. He clutched his left leg and hopped from side to side. As soon as his Aura dealt with the burn, he gingerly placed his foot back on the ground. So, Sora and Xehanort had started fighting already. "Typical..."

Qrow leaned forward and readied himself to sprint forward again once the energy stopped. Once it finally did, he flew forward at full speed, yanking his weapon from the ground as he sprinted with ragged, furious determination. He reached the lip of the smooth canyon and jumped, soaring into the stands with his feet lanced out in front of him. His heels collided with the skull of a White Fang terrorist, the mask on the Faunus woman's face shattering as he kicked off and brought his blade around him, sending the Faunus flying away from the woman she'd been threatening. "Come and get me you sons of bitches!" Qrow shouted to the sky. He looked around angrily and dashed to the closest, terrified White Fang member. Qrow's monstrous blade slammed the Fang member into the stone, shattering it beneath the Faunus.

"That's the Grim Reaper!" one of the White Fang shouted, terror running through his voice. He raised his weapon and fired off a stream of bullets at the Huntsman. "Get him!"

Qrow turned towards the source of the noise, eyes wide with bloody rage. He disappeared, moving almost as quickly as Sora could, and reappeared behind the White Fang grunt. His hand wrapped around the White Fang member's throat, fingers in a vice grip as he strangled the Faunus. "You know, you guys are animals," Qrow growled at the terrorist as he used the terrorist's body to block the bullets flying at him from all sides. He threw the bleeding, perhaps dying White Fang soldier at another terrorist while running at another. He raised his blade and blocked the incoming bullets, then slid to his back under another series of projectiles. As he passed the Fang member, he jumped to his feet, causing the flat of his blade to hit his opponent in the chin. The terrorist's head snapped backwards and he floated inches above the ground. Qrow spun around and delivered a powerful punch to the terrorist's midsection and sent him flying.

"Stand down!"

Qrow whirled on the voice and felt his blood run cold. Wearing a small, red and white Grimm mask beneath his spiky red hair and deep black horns, was Adam Taurus. His red shirt beneath his robe like black jacket likely hid the blood of his human victims, just as his blood red blade did in his right hand. Qrow's eyes narrowed on the terrorist leader. This was the guy who'd hurt Firecracker. "I'm going to enjoy reaping you," Qrow muttered. He flicked his wrist, causing his weapon to suddenly extend and curve around into its scythe form. It glinted hungrily in the light.

Taurus laughed cruelly and sheathed his blade. He looked over at one of his lieutenants. "Lumious, go. Continue with our righteous mission," he told the golden haired White Fang soldier. The man nodded and charged off with the rest of the Fang.

"I won't let you go that easy!" Qrow snarled. He shot forward, scythe spinning like it truly was the weapon of Death itself. "I'll kill each of you if I have to!"

"It won't be so easy, Reaper," Taurus said, appearing in Qrow's path. His blade collided with Qrow's, glowing slightly as all of the force in his blow disappeared suddenly. He slashed out, causing their lock to end and Qrow to slide backwards. Taurus sheathed his blade once again. "You have to deal with me." He took off running at the Huntsman, blade slashing at Qrow's head over and over. As Qrow spun around the next incoming blow, he saw a ball of white crash into one of pitch black. Sora and Xehanort – this was on a whole new level, and Qrow didn't know what was going to happen with them.

"Am I not worthy of your attention?" Taurus asked with a condescending smirk as he slashed again. Qrow's eyes widened and he ducked beneath the blow. A moment later, he saw a small triangle of cloth float before him.

"I really don't like it when people hurt my cape," he growled, bringing his scythe around like lightning. Its handle crashed into Taurus' legs, tripping him. Qrow lashed out with a back kick as he stood up, and his foot crashed into the flat of Wilt. Taurus flipped midair and landed on his feet.

 _Dammit, people are dying while I deal with this guy..._ Qrow growled to himself. Taurus was good, he had to give him that. Good enough that this battle would last long enough for too many people to die. Qrow panted, fighting off a panic attack. Every death would at least partially be on him; he didn't recognize Aride's betrayal when he should have seen it a mile away. And now people were dying because of it. _Stop overthinking. Act_...

He was surprised when a black portal suddenly opened behind Tuarus. "Behind you," Qrow warned, grinning at what was coming the terrorist's way. The Faunus just scoffed. "Whatever..."

A long, red and black katana flashed out of the portal, its blade colliding with Adam's shoulder and causing him to stumble to the side. A moment later, more portals appeared around it and Qrow's eyes widened. Glyn, Port, Oobleck, and a few other Huntsmen that Oz had on his shortlist of trustworthy people jumped out of the black and red holes in reality, weapons at the ready. His blood froze when he saw a woman dressed in a long white coat with similarly colored hair jump out of one, hair and coat streaming behind her. "Ice Queen," he growled as his eyes locked on her. Then, out of the main portal walked a woman Qrow knew better than he knew himself. "So, I take it the reunion didn't go as well as you'd hoped, Rae?"

"It didn't go at all, you little shit!" she snapped, eyes burning. "You couldn't handle one damn thing for me?" She stopped when she saw the hurt look on her brother's face and sighed. "Sorry. So, who was giving my little brother trouble?"

"Adam Taurus was not giving me trouble," Qrow retorted indignantly. "Also – by _five minutes!"_

"Taurus..?" Raven's eyes hardened and rage seemed to gain a physical form as it rolled off of her shoulders. She turned to the surprised, but mostly uninjured White Fang leader. Raven placed one hand on her katana's hilt and slid her feet apart. "Go help Summer's daughter. I want this sack of shit for myself."

Qrow grinned. "He's all yours," he responded. He turned towards the battle Sora and Xehanort were having and sprinted off. "When it doubt, Ruby is probably at the center of it all."

Raven watched her brother run off for a moment, then turned on Taurus. "Why do you wish to fight me? If he could not defeat me -"

"My brother never beat me in a fight when I was this angry," Raven interjected, shadows covering her eyes. She turned her gaze back on Adam, the red of her irises glistening with their own internal red light. "And you would already be dead if he wasn't having a Goddamn panic attack." Raven Branwen then launched herself forward, slashing out with her blade faster than most could respond. Taurus was not most, however, and he raised his own blade in defense, then grunted in surprise as she passed through a black and red portal and disappeared.

"What the -" Taurus was cut off when she appeared above his left shoulder, her knee slamming into his face. She slashed out again and disappeared through another portal. Taurus reeled from the blow, then raised his blade to wait for her next attack. It came from below, her fist slamming into his chin and sending him flying. She went through another portal.

"You remember anything you did at Beacon last year?" Raven asked as she reappeared behind him. Her feet both collided with the small of his back and she kicked off to back flip away. She disappeared again and left Adam to growl and wait for her next attack. She instead appeared about five paces in front of him, her blade in its sheathe once again. She gave the dials a spin and drew the weapon once more. It was covered in yellow Lightning Dust when she drew it. "Maybe this color will remind you."

"What are you talking about you filthy huma -" Taurus shut his mouth and studied Raven's face for a moment. "Tch... You wouldn't be related to that blonde human _bimbo,_ would you? No, wait – I see it. Her eyes were the same red when I sliced her arm clean off. It wasn't personal of course. She was human... so I was just attacking an animal one of my enemies took as a **pet** _."_

Raven just smiled, the sudden and illogical act unnerving Adam Taurus. She looked like a demon reveling in carnage at that moment, a monster ready to kill. If she had been wearing her mask, he probably would have thought she had become a Creature of Grimm in that moment. "I don't think you understand just how big of a fuck up you made just now," she said sweetly. She disappeared before Taurus could even blink, though this time no portal was involved. She merely moved as a few black streaks, reappearing behind Adam. He turned his head and glanced at her from the corner of his eyes as she slowly placed her blade back into its scabbard. "You know, I think I'll refer to 'an eye for an eye' as this now."

"What are you-"

Adam suddenly screamed in pain and fell to his knees as his right forearm and hand suddenly slid from his body, no longer connected to his form. He clutched uselessly at the bleeding stump of his arm, screaming louder as he saw it and his mind began to intensify the pain and shock. The Lightning Dust present on his arm suddenly discharged, cauterizing the wound with its intense heat. His hand fell from his stump of an arm and his palm hit the ground as the intense waves of pain ran through his body. When it finally ended, he no longer had even the strength to hold himself up and his chest fell to the ground. "F-finish it, you dirty h-human."

Raven scoffed, not even looking over her shoulder at the growling Faunus. "Why would I do that? Why would I give you the sweet release of death?" her voice still the same saccharine sweet it had been since Adam had bragged about hurting Yang. "No. No, I think this is much better. You see, you, the hero of the White Fang. The righteous geurilla. The warrior defending the honor of his people. The terrorist, if we're being honest instead of grandiose. I gave you what you hate the most. Pure, unadulterated shame at the hands of a 'lesser being.' You were just defeated by a... dirty human, I believe you said? And, before you decide to refer to my daughter – who is a Dragon you dirty animal – as a bimbo again so I'll kill you... Well, I'll just take your other arm and leave you here, writhing in twice the agony. Defenseless. Weak. A cornered, injured _animal._ Maybe a child whose parents you murdered today would come around and bash your skull in with a rock. Maybe you would die in the crossfire of those demigods over there. But either way, you'd die in shame. I, however, would rather you live in it." Then Raven began to slowly walk away from the downed warrior.

"Come back here and finish it!" Adam screamed, spittle flying from his mouth as he screamed bloody rage. "Finish it you bitch!" Raven just ignored him, moving on to find Cinder and her goons. They were responsible for Yang just as much as the defeated weakling behind her. And maybe they would at least provide an interesting challenge. "I will kill you! I'll destroy everything you love!"

Raven just smirked. He was welcome to lose to her again.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora roared as he crossed blades with Xehanort, fighting with all of his Heart at that moment so he could protect not only his friends, their world, and the future, but also so he could get a chance to do as his Heart was screaming at him to do. This battle was just as much for Sora at that moment as it was for the Light as a whole. "You seem flustered, Sora," Xehanort's dark voice taunted as he brought his Keyblade around in a horizontal slash that caused a small sonic boom to erupt as it moved. Sora ignored the attack, his twin Keyblades moving on their own to take the attack while Sora's fists grew charged with flames and lashed out at Xehanort's face. Firagas exploded around his knuckles as his fists moved in, the Dark Keyblade Master barely dodging the first of the fiery blows and moving his Keyblade up to bear the brunt of the second. The attack sent him flying, and he found that he had slammed into the stone of the Colosseum, body limp on the ground.

Xehanort groaned and pushed himself to his feet. When Sora had unleashed his full potential just a few minutes earlier, he had felt far more energy rolling from the child – no, young man's shoulders than he had ever felt in Sora's presence before. Even when using the same ability during their fight ages earlier for the fate of Kingdom Hearts, his powers had been incredible, but insignificant compared to Xehanort's own. Those around him had been much stronger. Now, though? His power dwarfed even that which Xehanort had felt coming from the Mouse King or even from his own old peer, the Wizard Yen Sid. Sora fought as Xehanort had once heard the Lost Masters had during their final battle two Keyblade Wars prior.

Xehanort dove to the side, dodging the pillar of white energy that ran his way and launching a massive Dark Firaga at Sora. The younger man raised his twin weapons before him, flats facing Xehanort as they crossed into an 'X.' They shot forward, the two weapons slamming into the heart of the black explosion and reversing its course completely. Xehanort's eyes widened as he watched the

flames the size of a house approaching him. The Fallen Master placed both hands on the hilt of his Keyblade and held it down at his left him. With a massive swing, he brought it up and batted the Firaga into the air. It exploded, a massive mushroom of Darkness expanding across the skies. Even from far above, he could hear the terrified screams of the citizens far below. The plan, despite this sudden interference from Sora – perhaps even aided by this sudden, massive display of power – was progressing as it should.

Sora wordlessly appeared before his opponent, Keyblade wings raised above his head. They began to spin like massive saws. He tossed them towards Xehanort, the disks of death igniting with coronas of pure Light as they rushed at their enemy. Xehanort jumped past the first attack, which effortlessly burned through the stone where he'd been standing before following him again. The other Xehanort flipped over as it neared him, the light missing his nose by mere centimeters. As he passed it, he slammed his own Keyblade into it and sent it flying for the other weapon. Just before they hit, however, they disappeared and then reappeared at Sora's back.

"Where is the usual smile, Sora?" Xehanort asked as he launched himself at Sora once again. His Keyblade slashed at Sora over and over again, but the young Keyblade wielder just stared at him with the same fury of all Keyblade Wielders of Light that came before him. Righteous and dispassionate. His only response was the seemingly automatic movement of his Keyblades to easily block each of Xehanort's blows. Whenever the old man's Keyblade hit one of Sora's, it was stopped in its tracks entirely, Sora's Keyblade not budging at all from the force of the blow. "Where are the lectures on the power of Light and the weakness of Darkness?"

"You threatened the people I care about. You nearly blew them up. Killed them," Sora said, his eyes never leaving Xehanort as they began crossing blades once more. After a moment, he caught Xehanort's Keyblade in the gap at the center of Oathkeeper, twisting it to the side and allowing him to deliver a powerful blow with Oblivion to Xehanort's head. The old man went flying, crashing into the announcer's box. "You don't get a merciful Sora right now." Sora's Keyblades angled over his shoulders, looking like cannons growing from his body as they began to glow with vibrant white light.

Xehanort's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. He quickly summoned his Shadow and began to channel his own mega powered ball of Darkness at the tip of his own Keyblade as he summoned it back to his hand. He would not lose this fight; he had destroyed Sora when he had fought like this before. He would win this time. Xehanort's iron will began to budge, however, when he saw Sora raised his palms to begin channeling another two spheres of destructive Light. "RAAAAGH!" Sora roared as he let loose the four wells of energy, the streams colliding in front of him to rush at Xeanort in a single, thin stream of light. Xehanort roared in turn and unleashed a massive stream of Darkness to match and overcome Sora's attack. The Darkness shot forward, crackling with Xehanort's full power.

The earth rumbled.

The sky shook.

Sora's beam of light collided with the center of Xehanort's attack,sending its power flying apart in every direction as it tunneled through the center of the Darkness. Xehanort's eyes widened as the Darkness uncoiled before him, becoming useless as Sora's attack approached. Then it collided with Xehanort's Keyblade, and there came a massive explosion of Light that sent Xehanort flying over the edge of the Colosseum and towards the land far below.

As the old man fell, he could see the ocean swelling in the distance. Sora had awakened the monster. The old man caught himself mid air and floated in place, panting in pain. "H-how did you do this?" he asked as he saw a massive coil of fins rise from the ocean, followed by a large, black fin. It wasn't completely awake yet, merely stirring from its ancient slumber. He looked up at the Colosseum where the glow of Sora's power remained. He grinned and pulled out a small black book from the inside of his coat. He may have lost to Sora, but he could still claim a victory in the end. He forced himself to float upwards again.

"Come back for more?" Sora asked, rushing at Xehanort.

The old man grit his teeth and teleported behind Sora before raising a finger towards the Colosseum. "You can attack me, Sora. Or, you can realize that each of your friends may soon die at the hands of Cinder and my other students. Perhaps Mercury will finish the job with your friend in green, hm?"

Sora's eyes widened and he looked between Xehanort and the Colosseum. Xehanort smirked. "I think I can hear the young Silver Eyed girl screaming even now," Xehanort said. At that, Sora's decision was made. He turned to leave. "Wait! A parting gift." Sora flinched as a small black rectangle flew towards him. He caught the book in his outstretched hands and glared at the cover. _The Key of Destiny_.

"What is this abou -" he looked up and Xehanort was gone. "Damn..." Sora shook his head and slipped the book into one of his pouches. There would be time to see it later. For now, he had to help out his friends. He angled himself down to where a beam of black energy had erupted a moment before, and took off at full speed to aid his friends.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby spun around the incoming dual knife attack of a nearby White Fang agent, firing off Crescent Rose as she spun so that her weapon rolled off of her shoulders and hooked around his throat. She used her momentum to swing behind him using her scythe as a tether and landed behind him, yanking the Faunus over her shoulders and sending him tumbling into some of his allies. He was followed by a huge explosion of pink Dust that sent them sky high.

"Everyone from this area has been evacuated," Ren shouted over the din of battle. He jumped over an incoming two handed sword blow and kicked his attacker in the face. As the Faunus stumbled backwards, Ren fired off StormFlower until the Fang agent fell unconscious. "We should move on."

"NO!"

Ruby turned in confusion to the source of the voice and shrieked as she was tackled to the ground. "Oh, you're alive! I'm so happy!" Ruby's uncle Qrow shouted as he hugged his niece in what one could call a 'rare display of emotion.' "My little niece! I – I was so scared you were hurt or dead!"

"You know me better than that," Ruby responded simply as she shoved her uncle from on top of her. "Die? Me? Pfft."

"Is it me or is she starting to sound like Sora?" Jaune wondered aloud.

"Ruby, don't get cocky," Qrow said as he reached down and helped his niece to her feet.

"Why? You are," Ruby retorted with a grin.

"Yeah. Difference is it looks good on me," Qrow explained, throwing her a half hearted smirk. He sighed after a heart beat and ruffled the young Huntress's hair. "I'm... I'm glad you're okay Ruby. I was just... I was worried. Okay? Don't go and make fun of a guy who cares about his family."

"Never would," Ruby said. She twirled Crescent Rose around Qrow's body and fired it off. There was a loud grunt as a White Fang soldier was hit and fell in battle. "You seem distracted." Tears welled up in Qrow's eyes. Ruby's eyes softened and she frowned worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, I'll tell you later. For now... I am just so damn proud of how well I taught you," Qrow said, trying to make himself calm down with humor. "Go me." It wasn't quite working, because he kept almost crying when he looked at Ruby.

"Touching. Really." Ruby and the others whirled on the source of the voice just in time to receive a stream of pure Darkness for their troubles. They all cried out as Cinder lowered her hands, the criminal smirking as Emerald and Cinder appeared at her side ready to fight the Huntsman and the children with him. "Do tell the red head I wish her the best when you see her again."

Ruby struggled to her feet first. "You won't win..."

"I think we already have," Cinder retorted, taking a few slow steps towards her opponent. Her eyes glowed with butterfly wing shaped auras, the left of Darkness and the right a fiery orange. She raised her arms before her, summoning a fireball to one and a Dark Firaga to the other as she prepared to annihilate the Huntsmen before her. She brought them together before her, the red and black bubbling dangerously as she prepared to unleash their power and annihilate all her greatest enemies in one fell swoop. "Goodbye, Silver Eyes."

"No!" Cinder stumbled backwards as... Ruby's eyes widened. Yang's dead mom was standing between Cinder and the criminal woman's desired prey. Her long, blood red sword glistened threateningly. "I'm going to destroy you."

"Please," Emerald laughed.

"I just took out Adam Taurus with no effort," Raven said with a confident smirk. It faltered when Cinder began to laugh derisively.

"So did we. When we were weak," Cinder responded with a grin. "Now?" She fired the explosive energy out at Raven. The woman sliced a hole open in reality that the darkness passed through. Another opened up behind Cinder's crew and the fireball flew towards them. Cinder just smirked and opened her own Corridor of Darkness. The energy slammed into Raven's back a moment later. "So, you've got a little Darkness of your own, then? Interesting. Or, it would be, if you weren't all about to die." Cinder raised her hands and began to summon a huge ball of Darkness into her hands in an effort to create another beam of energy that would eradicate her prey.

Cinder shouted out in pain as a beam of light suddenly crashed into the ground in front of her, its aura sending her attack flying right back into her. "That's twice I've done that to you," Sora said as he slowly rose to his feet. He turned towards the three criminals and glared out at them from beneath his hood. His Keyblades were in his hands now, glowing with white light. He threw them into the ground to either side and clenched his fists.

"Fine, we'll kill you too," Cinder growled, the three of them gathering their energy simultaneously against the young Keyblade wielder.

Sora didn't respond, instead just raising his open hand towards the three. "I doubt it," he said solemnly. Then he shut his fist and they were thrown backwards by a sudden explosion in the air in front of them. They flew away, disappearing into a trio of black portals. Sora just stared at where they'd disappeared then raised his hands above his head. "Heal!" Green energy exploded outward from Sora's palms, healing everyone around him and stitching together his friends wounds. He turned around and his face finally broke into a smile. "It's good to see you guys! And you Qrow. Hey! And... some... random woman who... kind of looks like Ruby's sister. Hi! I'm Sora."

"Yeah, I know," Raven said, stretching her shoulder. She frowned. The kid's healing had even fixed some of her old war wounds right up, better than new. She looked at the kid's welcoming grin. "I'm Raven."

"My sister and Yang's 'dead' mother," Qrow explained, absently waving his arm as he stared at the place where Cinder and her goons had disappeared from moments earlier.

Ruby gaped. "Uncle Qrow, w-what? Yang thinks -"

"Thought, and that can wait," he turned to the Keyblade wielder and grabbed both of Sora's shoulders frantically. "What were they after?"

"No, clue," Sora said, slightly disturbed by the terror in Qrow's eyes. He'd never seen the Huntsman... scared like this. Sora shrugged and shook his head. "I -" Sora suddenly froze as he felt Darkness gathering, twisting across the landscape of Remnant. He looked up and gasped: Xehanort was unleashing a Meteor Storm spell above the Colosseum itself, the flaming stones falling from the sky and crashing everywhere. Sora raised his Keyblades above him in an 'X' and generated a Reflega field large enough to defend everyone close to him.

"Is this still televised?" Qrow asked Raven. He sounded like he knew the answer already, but didn't want to admit what was about to come. He drew his sword and it shook with the same rage and fear that controlled the Huntsman's arm.

"It was when I last checked," his sister responded, her voice laced with the same fear as Qrow's. The sky shook as a loud, terrifying roar took to the air. She placed her hand on her sword as the noise began to die out, only to be replaced by another. Sora picked up on what worried them, and immediately knew that they had failed.

"Have fun, Sora. We shall end our journey together soon!" Xehanort shouted to the young man as he let his hand fall to his side. He bowed midair while opening a Corridor beneath his feet. The old man let himself fall slowly into the rift. His face took on an evil, knowing grin. "Til' next we meet, Seeker."

"Dammit!" Sora growled as his enemy disappeared. Sora let the Reflega wall drop and looked up at the sky with a serious frown. After a moment, he shot upward, his speed causing everyone's hair to follow his wind trails. After reaching a substantial height and battering away the last of Xehanort's meteors, he immediately flew back down. "There's a giant sea serpent flying towards us."

"Goddammit," Qrow shouted, slamming his sword into the ground.

Ruby watched him with scared eyes; she had never seen her uncle act like this. Scared. Broken. He wasn't acting like the indestructible warrior that she was used to seeing, the man who could claim victory even if he'd already lost. Now he was acting like... like they were going to lose and nothing could be done about it. "We're screwed," Qrow growled.

"No. We're not," Sora cut in. Qrow looked over at him, and everyone else's eyes followed. The Keyblade wielder pointed towards the ocean. "I'll take it out."

"What?" Raven asked, genuinely surprised and disturbed at the thought of a child fighting a monster that could destroy a city. "No, you -"

"I'm used to fighting things like this," Sora said as he brought his Keyblades to his back. "I'll be fine."

Ruby saw his legs tense up. "Well, you're not going alone." The words came out of her mouth of their own volition.

The entire group now stared at her dumbfounded. "I'll be fine. You don't have to do this," Sora said. He opened his mouth to say more, then stopped. He studied the defiantly powerful look Ruby was giving him, and sighed. He let his Keyblades drift down to his hands. "Fine. But leave your scythe. Flying with two people is hard enough."

"What will I..." Ruby's eyes widened as she understood. "Okay." She tossed Crescent Rose to her uncle, who caught it with a confused glare. "Which one?"

Sora began to raise Oblivion, but stopped as Oathkeeper began to glow even brighter in his right hand. The Keyblade seemed to want him to let her use it. Like it wanted him to choose her. "Here," he said, handing the white weapon to Ruby. She took it in her left hand and he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Just hold on tight."

"To wha-?" she was cut off as they rocketed into the sky. She grabbed Sora's jacket, and screamed in excitement as he took a hard turn and shot off towards the monster. Sora's hood remained up, despite the high speed winds. _Almost as if by magic._ Ruby laughed at that thought. It was probably true.

"What's so funny?" Sora asked, his eyes still fixed on the edge of the Colosseum, over which a monster was about to attack a city sized school of warriors.

"I never thought I'd be holding a Key flying to fight a sea dragon in Mistral!" Ruby shouted over the wind. Sora laughed too; he hadn't thought he would be there either, with one of his Keyblades seemingly deciding on Ruby. Did that mean... she could use one?

"Oh... that's..." Sora shook his head from his thoughts as Ruby's words broke into his mind. He looked down at the ocean.

"Yeah." The sea dragon was huge, floating up towards the Colosseum like a black demon. It had the usual black scales of a Grimm, with bony plates protruding at intervals around its entire body like nearly impenetrable armor. Well, unless the weapon was a Keyblade. The black flesh of the creature was bubbling, with smaller Grimm appearing on its back every so often; its back was wide enough to allow a small pack of Beowolves to run along its length as it coiled once around the stadium, its head and tail nearing one another. Sora slowly let them down on top of its tail as its head began to coil around the Colosseum once more.

"What's the plan?" Ruby asked as her feet landed on top of the bottom plate. She swayed for a moment when the Serpent roared.

"The Keyblade should be able to crack these plates, and if we take them off, we can cut the Grimm in half," Sora explained as he twirled the Keyblade into a backhand grip. He stabbed down, the blade easily slicing through the bone plate. The Grimm shrieked in rage, and a group of Grimm began to grow from its back. Sora gestured at the approaching monsters. "After we fight our way up, of course."

Ruby twirled Oathkeeper in her left hand, trying to shove down her excitement about being able to use the weapon so she could focus on the, frankly, monumental task in front of them. Sure, Sora had claimed he'd fought giant monsters before. But Ruby hadn't, so the new territory she was treading was a little scary. "Race you?" the Huntress suggested as the nearby Beowolves growled and took a few cautious steps towards Sora and Ruby.

The Keyblade wielder grinned and launched a Firaga though the crack he'd formed on the serpent's armor. "You're on!" he said when the armor shattered. It shifted beneath their feet for a moment, and Sora ran towards the Grimm, Oblivion raised over his right shoulder. Ruby shot past him in a torpedo of roses, appearing as herself once again to deliver a powerful slash through the mass of Grimm. The Keyblade glimmered in her hands and shot off a trail of light, her eyes glowing with the same silvery light as the ancient weapon.

Sora stumbled over his own feet as he saw this. He's been right – that really was Light magic she'd used all that time ago. And it seemed to have a connection to the Keyblade, or that the Keyblade had unlocked more of her potential. Sora was getting more and more sure that she could find a way to summon her own. Not that he knew how to teach her how. And, besides, he had important things to do right then. He dashed after Ruby, slicing through the groups of Grimm that got too close with sweeping, circular attacks.

He broke through the line just after Ruby did and saw her sweep Oathkeeper beneath her, the blade slicing off the armored plate in front of her. She landed and rolled to her feet just as Sora passed her and summoned an explosion of Sparkgas that burned through the chests of roaring Ursai. As he passed them, he quickly turned Oblivion into a huge hammer and slammed it into the plate, shattering the armor. He grabbed a large, sharp fragment that flew up from the remains and tossed it forward. It impaled the next length of armor, causing hairline fractures to appear all over its shell. Ruby shot at it like a rocket, and slammed into it fast enough to shove the spike right into the black flesh of the huge Grimm.

The monster shrieked angrily and shook wildly, sending Sora and Ruby flying upward into the air. The Keyblade wielder spun midair and brought his Keyblade around for Ruby's feet to land against its flat. He continued his movement, and she shot back down towards the giant Grimm's back. Sora altered his own path and flew back down after her as she began to spin at full speed, shooting down with Oathkeeper in front of her. When she landed, her immense collision caused an equally massive shockwave that began to shatter the rest of the armor.

Sora hit the ground after her and raised his Keyblade above him to unleash a massive Graviga spell. The remaining splinters of armor condensed under the incredible force, causing the serpent's flesh to creak for a moment before a loud, painful noise from multiple stab wounds all across the serpent's body. After that, Sora and Ruby ran up the rest of the giant Grimm's body, slashing through the army of smaller Grimm that came their way.

As they reached the snout of the serpent, it growled and instinctively tried to snap at the prey that was right before its eyes, sending them both upward yet again. The air rushed around the two warriors, their clothes whipping about in the resultant wind. The giant Grimm roared and followed the two warriors, maw wide open and ready to kill them. It uncoiled from the Colosseum and flew after Sora and Ruby, the last remaining shreds of its bone plates shaking off as its body trembled and vibrated against the force of gravity.

Sora glanced down at Oblivion as it began to glow with a bright white light, one that quickly shot out to form a tether of light with Oathkeeper held out in Ruby's left hand. Sora grinned as he realized what could be done with this. "Let's go!" he shouted, forcing himself to fly down at the serpent, diverging from Ruby to stretch the line out.

When it hit the serpent, the giant Grimm began to sizzle and burn at the points of contact. The two warriors slowed as the tether of light dragged against the black flesh of the monster, its jaws snapping shut around the line. After another half moment, the maw and bone of the creature gave way and the line of energy began to cleanly slice through the entire body of the monster. The Grimm on the surface of its flesh sizzled and burned, exploding from the heat and pressure buildup of the Light tether. Above Sora and Ruby, the monster began to flop about, its body cleanly burning away into two halves that began to disintegrate into Black Dust that fell like snow towards the Colosseum. As it fell, it exploded in bursts of white Light that annihilated any of the remaining Grimm with which it came into contact.

Sora and Ruby finally approached the monster's tail, the light slicing cleanly through the final surviving piece of the monstrous Grimm. As their attack left it, Ruby and Sora both spun midair and the tether was cut. The Keyblades flashed brilliantly and the two fell slowly to the lip of the Colosseum, where the young warriors landed softly a few dozen yards apart. The white Light continued to fall around them, landing softly on their shoulders, sparkling calmly. The two turned to each other, ginning, and ran towards one another. They crashed into each other and laughed as they wrapped arms over each others shoulders. "That was amazing!" Ruby shouted as Sora's clothes flashed a bright white and returned to its normal coloring, his hood on his back. The Keyblade in Ruby's left hand disappeared after another half moment in the same bright light, and Ruby let out a slight whine. "Oh... time's up?"

Sora laughed and dismissed the Kingdom Key from his right hand. "That was great, Ruby!" he said back to her, grinning wildly. "You were just... amazing..."

Ruby blushed. "Oh, shut up..." she muttered, rubbing her toes against the ground bashfully. "It's... nothing."

Sora smiled at her. "It really was. I've never seen the Keyblade act like that before. It's never... wanted to help someone before." Sora laughed and scratched the back of his head. "I, uh, you, that is, uh -"

"What was that!?" Qrow asked as he stepped out of a red and black corridor of Darkness. Sora watched as he was followed by Jaune, Nora, Ren, and the older Huntsman's sister walk out of the portal. All five of them looked like they'd just watched something completely unbelievable occur. Which, to be fair, they had. It wasn't every day – unless you were Sora – that you saw a giant monster. And it wasn't every day – unless you were Sora – that you saw a pair of teenagers kill it with almost no trouble at all. "How did..." Qrow sighed and shook his head. "You know what, no. There'll be time for questions and answers later. For now... good job, you two. That was... awesome, Kiddo."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ozpin just smiled, a quietly triumphant smirk that communicated his incredible, powerful pride in the warriors he had taught, and in those they had taught as well. Qrow had, despite his obvious belief otherwise, done well. He had tried to save every life without losing trust in his friend. Raven had fought in the open for the good of the world instead of for a simple thrill. Jaune had fought through his Darkness, with no small act of will, to protect his friends. Ren and Nora had overcome their fear and recent defeats to grow much stronger and braver, as true Huntsmen. And Sora had become much more than the simple Keyblade wielder he had been once before. He still had far to go before achieving his full potential, the potential to become...

"What are you smiling about?" Salem asked, waving her hand to slam shut their view of the rest of the Remnant and glare down at the tortured teacher. She walked over to him and crouched. "Well?"

"You lost this battle," Ozpin noted simply. His smirk deepened. "I told you that they would defeat you."

"Your 'Smaller, more Honest Souls?'" Salem asked. She shook her head. "Tsk tsk tsk, Ozpin. I remember you being smarter than this." The Headmaster palled. She never called him Ozpin, not unless she was about to gloat. Salem stood up straight and walked away from her former friend. "You see, unlike you, I can see the full picture. I made the full picture, really."

"What do you..." Ozpin flinched as he realized. "This was never about destroying Mistral. Your body is..."

"Falling apart. Yes, Mistral was an afterthought. Though, I am hoping to see if what the Schnees have planned will come to fruition," Salem responded. She turned to smile at her captive. "But you saw it, didn't you? You saw what I searched for? Two things I was not sure I could have. Two things I needed, but could not find. A Light so strong and pure that it could instinctively latch onto the power of the purest Light magic. And a Darkness so deep I could control it with a single utterance. I felt it, during their last battle with Xehanort, but now I know the truth."

"You won't succeed. She will not lose her Heart to you," Ozpin said after a moment. He shook his head, trying to shore up his bravery. "Her strength – _Their_ strength only grows."

"I've seen. Hopefully it grows faster," Salem responded as she sat down across from the Headmaster and crossed her legs and laughed at Ozpin's increasingly terrified and worried face. "Ah! Now you feel it, don't you. Your 'Smaller, more Honest Souls' are fighting against the deepest of Darkness in an effort to breed hope and ignite the souls of all around them. And they did. They gave _you_ hope. And then here I am, crushing it beneath my heel. One of those children will give themselves to me, just as he did all that time ago. The rest... well, I will use what I can and destroy what I cannot."

Ozpin glared up at the woman defiantly. He would not let the strength of his Heart falter. Never again. "I will not let you hurt a single hair on any of their heads."

"And I will love to watch you try, and inevitably _fail_ , to do so," Salem responded, leaning forward and slapping Ozpin's cheek lightly, a condescending and mocking movement. "Just as you have since we crafted the very first of those weapons in that lost land so many years ago. Just as your five most loyal students did when their brother in arms fell. And just as those children you call warriors today will most certainly fail as well. I cannot wait to watch that fire, that vaunted hope, slowly die in your eyes for the final time."

 **AN: Okay, I got chills when I wrote the Raven vs Adam part. I hope everyone liked that part because it** ** _might_** **be my favorite part of the story so far. It's short, but damn Raven went Mama Bear. Flip side, I have no doubt shaming him and leaving him alive just because she wanted to enjoy the sweet taste of vengeance will come back to bite her in the ass.**

 **To gamelover41592: Oh, I also can't wait for Taiyang to see Raven or Ruby in person for the first time. And to meet Sora. I feel like Tai has more 'scary dad' in him than Qrow gave him credit for. And Yang probably has some really scary 'big sister' in her, too.**

 **To Keyslinger Roxas: Surprised? Yeah, no deaths in this chapter. And, because of our heroes and their friends, there were very few civilian deaths. Just because one of the intended themes of** ** _RWBY_** **is that not every story has a happy ending, that doesn't mean no story has one. As for Anti Form, it'll will show up later, in maybe five or six chapters, and it won't be good for Sora and his friends. He got better at guarding against his Darkness, but I doubt he'd ever be an expert at controlling it. It just isn't who he is. Also, he doesn't have any Black Dust yet...**

 **To Warrior of Six Blades: I am a little mean to Neptune. Which sucks, because I really liked him in season two when they introduced him. He seemed cool, but down to earth. The only character growth we got in season three was his intense, debilitating fear of water. Which, you know, is pretty funny given his name and weapon. Also, I feel like making jokes about Ren and Nora's obvious thing doesn't really work for comedy when they are a chapter or two away from realizing their feelings, so I needed something to mine for laugh for a short while. Glad it was hilarious, at least.**


	15. Aftermath

_**Chapter 15: Aftermath**_

"I think the meeting can finally start," one of Mistral's two Consuls said as Qrow kicked open the door to the Central Table where all those involved in stopping Xehanort and Cinder were set to meet. Even Raven was there, her katana in its scabbard was leaning against the back of her seat as she glared over at her late brother. Qrow looked around at the various faces assembled around the table. Ice Queen, General Jimmy's proxy at the event, was staring at him with a vibrantly angry look. They both quickly looked away from one another as their gazes _almost_ met. Beside her was Glyn looking at Qrow like he was one of her students late for a class, then Port and Oobleck arguing over what was more important – anecdotal history or what had faded into the past. Then the two Consuls – Marron Phoenix and Augusta Zuri – sat together at the top of the circular table. Marron was a man in his mid sixties who wore a maroon and gold suit to match his overly chestnut hair. Probably dyed it. Augusta wore a white dress with a capelet over her shoulders. Between those two was a machine displaying the blurred white silhouettes of the councils, each group leaders of the various Kingdoms who felt a need to listen in on the information that Qrow and the present Huntsmen would provide. Marron continued to speak condescendingly as Qrow took his seat between Raven on his left and – ugh – the Ice Queen on his right. "Now that the great Qrow Branwen is here."

"Sorry. I had to get drunk to tolerate you idiots," Qrow growled at the Consuls and other councilors. He heard a small snicker come from his left and a growl of annoyance from his right. He ignored Ice Queen and continued to shoot back at the angry and narrow eyed Consuls. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I somehow bruise the two egos the size of a barn over there when I walked into the room? Jeez, you make Jimmy look positively amazing to hang with." He glanced over at the Schnee. "You make sure to tell ol' Jimmy it turns out he _isn't_ the least fun stick in the mud on Remnant." That earned him a dirty glare that he could only grin at.

"Moving on," Marron said, pushing past his desire to strangle the smirking Qrow. "Now that our guest of honor is here, we can finally hear his reports on everything he has seen since the Beacon Incident."

"Oh, now I'm honored?" Qrow asked the councilors mockingly. He put his hands up and did spirit fingers. "Yay."

"Mrs. Xiao Long, could you please control your brother?" Augusta asked, glaring at Qrow.

Raven shrugged. "Why? I like to laugh," she responded almost as mockingly as her brother. "Besides, no one can put a muzzle on him. So, so... so many have tried, and as of yet none have succeeded. Considering the looks he's giving her when she's not looking – hell, when she _is_ looking – I'm hoping the platinum blonde might have a real chance."

Qrow choked on his spit and slammed his hand into the table. He laughed exaggeratedly at his sister's words. "Ha! Ha ha ha ha _ha!_ You're hilarious, Rae. Just... just hilarious," he said, turning slowly towards sister and snarling. He coughed and smiled nervously before turning back to the table and smoothing his shirt. "Um, how about we just start in, huh? I have visual aids, and..." He cast a glance over his shoulder at the red faced, barely holding in a scream of disgust. Qrow turned back to the table. "Where do you want me to start?"

"Tell us everything Ozpin hid from us prior to his demise," Marron demanded, clasping his hands authoritatively on the table. "Everything."

Qrow laughed once. "All due respect – which, isn't that much come to think of it – Oz kept things from you... _politicians_ for a damn good reason. You're all... spineless vote grubbers. Not worth the time it would take to give you the basics. I'll tell you everything _since_ the Incident. Probably nothing from before, unless you're _really_ lucky and the drunk lets something slip!"

"We could just order you," Augusta threatened, narrowing her gaze on the Huntsman.

"You could certainly try," Qrow laughed. He continued speaking to the table. "I just told you morons that Oz kept things from all of you politicians, asked all of _us_ to keep things from you, for a very good reason. Some of the secrets of this world are better as just that – secret."

"From the allied governments of the world? From the people?"

"Qrow, just bite the bullet," Raven muttered. Qrow looked over at her, surprised, and studied her face. After a moment, he nodded. Raven looked over at the Consuls. "Best thing about no one muzzling him – he can't help but talk."

"Ha," Qrow snapped. He placed his open palms on the table. "Cinder Fall is a person of interest in multiple crimes ranging back almost five years. All of them were low profile when taken as separate events, as the police did when considering them. When together... it becomes clear she built perhaps the most powerful criminal syndicate on Remnant, one that spans every Kingdom and was capable of bringing two Headmasters, one military, and four Kingdoms to a grinding halt."

"That wouldn't explain half of the feats she managed to accomplish at the Vytal Festival, nor here. These Grimm are larger than anything present even in most legends, yet she knew how to wake up creatures so old they had burrowed into nature itself. That does not seem the mark of a mere criminal," Marron pointed out. He glared at Qrow, waiting for some sort of response.

Qrow reached into his pocket and cycled through a few menus. "For months, Ozpin had said that Cinder – codenamed Queen – had a benefactor of some kind," he explained. He finished and an image of Xehanort, grainy and dark, appeared on the Scrolls of all others present. "We believe he was the one who was responsible, as of now. We also believe that he has another piece in play as a proxy for the time he wasn't present in the Kingdoms. This 'Salem' he mentioned when speaking with Cinder and her group. We have very little, if any, information on that. It could be a name or a code name for an individual or place, perhaps for a group."

"Cinder displayed abilities during the attack on Haven we'd never seen before. Do they have access to some kind of... odd Dust?" one of the other councilors asked over the machine, continuing on to the next topic of interest.

"It's something else," Raven cut in before her brother could say anything. She fidgeted as all eyes came to rest on her.

"What is it, then? Well, Mrs. Xiao Long?" Augusta asked, eyes widening at the prospect of a new kind of power.

"Something much older than Dust. It's connected, from what I understand, to the Grimm themselves," the woman in black and red explained. She shrugged and continued on. "He called it Darkness, I think. I'm sure that anyone with enough willpower can use it." Raven gestured over at Qrow, who nodded and activated a new file on his Scroll. "As long as they have enough hate in their Heart, it can come out on its own. From then on, it's just a matter of figuring it out yourself."

Xehanort appeared again as Qrow sent the file to all present. This time the old man stood nonchalantly across from Sora. It was a scene from when Sora and Ruby had fought Xehanort and Cinder in the Emerald Forest. Xehanort's Keyblade flashed in the video surveilance, crashing against Sora's with an almost lazy and disinterested flow. Raven continued her explanation: "His weapon is called a Keyblade. I don't know how or why, but it seems to increase his physical strength and speed, as well as his power with Darkness, exponentially. I don't think I've ever met any Huntsman who had a chance at surviving a battle with him unless he let them live." The battle between the two Keyblade wielders ended and disappeared from the Scrolls.

"What can you tell us about these Keyblades, then?" Glynda asked, intrigued to learn more about something Ozpin had even hid from her, Qrow, and Raven. She leaned forward and crossed her arms. "They seem to have attributes more akin to myth than reality."

"I have no clue what they are," Qrow said simply. The Huntsman grabbed his scythe and slammed it blade first into the round table, smirking as the Consuls flinched and were smacked in the face by wood chips flying from the impact. He put his hands in his pockets as he began to walk around the table. "What I do know is that every Huntsman's weapon is powered by, or at least is used to influence, Dust. With Dust, Huntsmen can do things that would otherwise be impossible. Create fire or ice from nothing, alter gravity and increase one's speed. Combined with the use of one's Semblance, the abilities of a Huntsmen stop just short of magic. Keyblade users are miles above that. They already have innate abilities surpassing those of the most accomplished Dust manipulator, and on top of that have skills that one could easily consider... impossible. Xehanort can heal any wound he and his allies receive with a single word, or summon storms to the sky with one hand. Hell, I've even seen a Keyblade stop time."

"What about how they are made, or where they come from? How can one be found? How can they be gained?" Marron asked, leaning forward with wild and hungry eyes like those of Augusta. _Politicians,_ Qrow growled internally. Marron smiled and added on: "For the Huntsmen, of course?"

Qrow laughed as he finished his loop to his seat. He continued walking and laughing until he was behind Marron and Augusta. He leaned between them and grabbed them both by the shoulders. "Ha! Oh, you think if I even found out a way to get my hands on one I'd tell you two? You've seen what one of these guys can do when he's off the leash, you really think I'd let you guys -" he looked down at the screen where the other Councilors faceless forms stared across the table silently. "Let any of you have those things? I might as well declare another Great War right here and save you idiots the trouble of destroying the world."

"Destroying the world? You believe that putting such tools in the hands of the people would be a bad thing?" the Bureaucrat from Vacuo asked indignantly.

"The people? Sure. You guys? I'd trust a kid before I trust you morons. You've all got dirty little secrets that have way too much to do with everything that's happening," Qrow explained, shoving off of Marron and Augusta so that their heads nearly hit the table top. He jumped onto the table and walked across it, kicking his weapon up into his hand and holstering it on the back of his belt. "Atlas and their 'Blue Fairy' division." Ice Queen flinched and frowned. She excused herself and pushed herself to her feet while pulling out her Scroll as she quietly left the room. Qrow ignored her. "Mistral's more than liberal use of Marcus Black's services. How about Vacuo's experiments on weaponizing Grimm? Or how Vale's Councilors took bribes from Roman Torchwick? I mean, you idiots have a list of dirty laundry longer than that sea serpent was."

"Is that how you want to play this, then?" Augusta snapped, surging to her feet as well. She growled at the younger Huntsmen. "You trust a _child_ before us? Then how about we talk about those children, hm? People you've been using as spies in sovereign territory, enacting operations without our consent. You damn Huntsmen and your Headmasters keep acting like there is nothing to which you are beholden, so how about we test that. Let's discuss the real threats here – you say that Xehanort is such a danger because he uses the Keyblade, then why is this Sora boy not a threat?"

"Sora?" Qrow asked eyes widening.

"You cannot be serious," someone said from the door. Qrow looked over and his eyes widened as he saw Ice Queen was the one backing him up. She slammed her thumb into the 'End Call' button and marched into the room with an angry glare across her face. "That boy just saved your damn lives and an entire Kingdom – if not more – in the past two days, all because of Qrow."

"Uh..." Qrow muttered blankly as Winter continued walking up to the table. She looked like she'd just gotten in a big argument with someone whose opinion she valued. And now she looked like she was about to start pounding in the faces of the idiots at the table. He frowned... she looked good passionate. After a moment, that thought caused him to shiver. That was a avenue of consideration he hoped to never take again.

"In fact, this building would be a pile of rubble without him. The death toll was limited to the astronomically small total of one hundred out of the twenty six thousand people who were present here for the event. Of that number, we have confirmed that forty were White Fang operatives killed during the fight. Four were Huntsmen whose bodies were found guarding the region where the epicenter of the blast was located. Six were White Fang found near those bodies – suiciders who cleared the location for the crash site. That leaves fifty – only fifty civilians dead. Thanks to Sora and Qrow, that number was not in the thousands as it could have been – as it was following the Beacon Incident. My family always taught me that you should thank your heroes, not spit on their sacrifices at the first opportunity."

Qrow just stared over at her, feeling uncomfortable. "Um... thanks, Ice Qu – Winter," he said, scratching the back of his head. He was anxious to get thanking her out of the way.

"Why are you thanking me?" she asked, turning her icy gaze towards Qrow once again. She looked him up and down. "I am merely pointing out the facts. None of which change the other fact that you are usually an undisciplined, filthy drunk."

Qrow shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't have it any other way," he said, shaking his head in confusion. He looked over at the table, where Augusta and Marron were glancing down in embarrassment. The screen between them had shut off, the other councilors not wanting to hear logic any more. "What's the matter? Need some help with that freezer burn?"

Marron and Augusta remained silent for a while. "What about Aride?" Qrow suddenly asked. He still felt bad for all the lives lost. Physically in pain, actually. But he wasn't as broken as he could be. It hurt to admit, but he had been most worried about Ruby; the other deaths didn't shatter him in the same way hers would have. The evacuation that Ruby and her friends had succeeded in carrying out had in no small part helped the Huntsman to understand and pity his old friend, though not quite forgive her.

"Ah, yes. The former Headmaster Stole," Marron said, looking back up and composing himself. He fidgeted nervously. "I... She will be put on trial. I doubt that, even considering the fact she was under duress the entire time, the courts will be lenient. She may never see the the sun again. _If_ she isn't put to death, that is."

Qrow nodded solemnly, eyes dry and absent of emotion. "I thought so," he said as Winter passed him. He glanced up and watched her inquisitively move by him, the woman shooting him an intense and equally inquisitive glare. Qrow coughed and looked away. "Um... Chrysos. He's dead, isn't he?"

"Yes," Augusta muttered, not wanting to glance up at Winter, who was sitting once again, nor Qrow, who continued to stand with his arms crossed. "We found him in a motel in the city. His... his throat was slit, and our investigators believe it to have been done shortly after the death of the Serpent. It appears that, despite their insistence otherwise, the terrorists never had any intention to leave him alive in exchange for Mrs. Stole's cooperation. Again, that will likely do little to help her case."

Qrow was silent for a while. "It's too bad." Qrow sighed and shrugged sadly before he turned towards the door and put his hands in his pockets. The meeting was over, and everyone there knew it. There was nothing else he wanted to hear from the Consuls and little to say to the others in front of those two idiots. He needed some time to himself, anyways.

Without looking over his shoulder, he said, "Almost forgot. Ice Queen... Thanks again." Then he opened the door and left the room without a second look, walking alone out of the main government building of Mistral. This city was more of a sprawl than Vale, with white marble buildings much shorter than his home's skyscrapers spreading out as far as his eye could see, with the buildings rising and falling with the seven hills that it had been built upon. Place also had better pizza than almost anywhere else.

"Oh, you aren't getting away so easily," Raven said, stepping up from behind him. She looped her arm over his shoulder and smiled at her twin. He just glared dryly back at her. "Are you okay? I remember Aride from battles long ago. She was a good woman."

"Was," Qrow echoed. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a flask. He started to unscrew the top, only for it to be stolen away by his sister. He reached for it, but she pulled it further away. "Give it back!"

"Oh, no you don't," Raven responded. She shoved her brother away and quickly downed the contents of the flask. She sighed contentedly then threw the flask over her shoulder, fending off her brother's attempts to grab it from the air.

"Ugh... that was a gift," he remarked, staring at the flask as it was crushed beneath the tire of a car. "From Oz."

"Eh, he'll buy you a new one when this is all over," Raven said with a shrug. She jabbed her finger into her brother's face. "But you smell like you had your other flask already. And filled it up and drank it again. And again. You said you were cutting back, and I think Summer's kid really approved of that. Hell, so did I." She grabbed her brother's shoulder again and smirked at him. "Besides – you can't get a date to the dance in three days if you're blackout drunk. At least not one you aren't paying for, little brother."

Qrow sighed. "By five minutes... why do you do that to me?"

"Cause winning is winning?" the swordswoman suggested, smacking the back of her brother's head. She laughed and shoved off of the other Huntsman. "Food? You're buying!"

Qrow scoffed. "I... fine. Pizza?"

Raven shrugged then nodded. "Pizza."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Xehanort hissed as he watched the skin of his forearm tightened and withered around his bones. His transformation of his physical form had already weakened his body far more than he had believed it would. On top of that, the intense fight with Sora had done little to help him recover; he had not expected to be put down so easily by anyone, much less a mere child. He hissed again and used his Keyblade to fix himself as well as he could. It would be temporary, he knew that much; as long as he was stuck inside a Replica of his younger body it would be only a matter of time before it fell apart from the strength of a Heart it was not built to contain. Unless he found a new body or was able to fix the **χ** -blade before his physical form fell apart, he would not survive.

Of course, he had found a candidate for doing what he had once done to Terra. Jaune was just one loss of a single friend away from giving in. His strength was not dissimilar to Sora's, reliant upon the strength of those around him to push him further into the Light. While it gave him great strength, he was not prepared for the intense pain that losing those pillars of Light would bring. Intense pain that would slowly push him further towards the shadows in his own Heart, and into the waiting grip of Xehanort.

Or perhaps the girl with the Silver Eyes could be of use. The **χ** -blade was forged from fragments – Hearts – of pure Light and Darkness originally. It was missing half of the components from either side of the divide, and her Heart could easily be used to fill a place in the shattered Light half of the ancient weapon. There were many Hearts on the Remnant that could be used to complete the Darkness in the **χ** -blade, and he was sure that he could find a way to pit them against warriors bound to the side of the Light, completing the guardian of Kingdom Hearts once more. Xehanort looked up at the shattered moon far above and his hand reached back to grasp the **χ** -blade's handle.

"What the hell was that?" Cinder snapped, disrupting the Keyblade Master's thoughts. He quickly pulled down his sleeve to hide his arm and turned towards her disinterestedly. The young woman had angry, burning eyes. Darkness was rising from her shoulders in tendrils of palpable rage. Her anger only grew as Xehanort laughed. "Do you think your failure to handle Sora is funny?"

Xehanort's laughter immediately ceased. He advanced on the woman, crossing the width of the cave in which they were recovering. The old man's yellow eyes burned in the darkness, somehow sucking away the little light that remained in the cave so that they became yellow orbs glowing dangerously like the gaze of a predator at night. "You believe I am jovial because of that? I am weakened now, my body a shattered shell of what it once was and of what it could be," he growled, his voice full of menace that even gave the Fall Maiden pause. The darkness seemed to coil around the old man, wrapping him even further in its embrace. As if he was almost at one with them. "The Seeker of Light has grown in power, that is true. Perhaps enough to challenge me as I am now. However, I am not as powerful as I could be. My power rots this body, tears at its insides like a disease. If I had the means to repair it, or to claim a new one, then you could be sure that Sora would not survive the day. I am his better – and he is yours. Do well to remember to whom you speak, _Girl_."

Cinder gulped, but decided to fight off her fear. "I only point out truths you are too scared to admit, Xehanort," she growled, stepping up towards the man. She resisted the urge to shove him back, knowing that would only end badly for her. "I planned the release of the Sea Serpent Grimm since before we were sent to find you. You assured me that you could handle Keyboy when the time came."

"That doesn't matter. The release of the Serpent succeeded in doing something much more important than inspiring fear," Xehanort responded with a chuckle. He turned on his heel and began to walk away, still laughing. "Its death succeeded in proving a hypothesis that I had about the girl. The one who defeated you prior to our meeting. The Silver Eyed girl."

"So it served your purposes, all else be damned?" Cinder asked with a growl.

"Is that so different from you?" Xehanort mocked as he whirled back on Cinder. He raised one finger as he began to refer to the two warriors scouting the land outside the cave. "Emerald. She dotes on you. Worships you. I bet you rescued her like she was an injured puppy. But that doesn't matter, because you only want a slave. Not someone who thirsts for your approval, not someone who can think for themselves. Her desire to earn your favor is meaningless to you." He raised his second finger. "And as for Mercury? Once his desire for battle and war has been sated, you will kill him. Or he will leave, and his absence will tug at the other one. Slowly tearing your slave out of your grasp. And, of course, there is the fact you have hidden the truth from both of them."

"Salem's existence and identity are -"

"Need to know? I understand, of course. After all, a pawn with too much knowledge is as useless as a broken one," Xehanort interjected. He smiled cruelly down at the Maiden. "Again – you would do well to know your place, Cinder Fall."

"I know my place. I know my Destiny," the woman spat, her eyes glowing by this point. "I am no pawn. I am a Queen!"

"And yet, even with that information granted you by Salem, you can do nothing to change it. You cannot escape your painful fate. Remember, Cinder, that any piece on a chess board is still a tool to be sacrificed by one who considers themselves the game's master," the Keyblade Master warned, earnestly interested in preventing Cinder's death. Salem and Xehanort both played a very long game, but his was not the same as hers. It would not do to lose a valuable piece if it could be turned at the opportune moment. "And your fate... well, many monarchs have fallen when the powers hiding in the shadows made themselves known. Remember that, _Queen."_

 _ **R W B Y**_

A few days after the attack by the now infamous Cinder and her old and scary accomplice, Tai and Yang had received a call from Qrow and Ruby. The public CCT had been shut down to prevent any panic and to keep the White Fang from easily communicating across the world, so this was probably the first communication they'd been able to get out of Mistral. All of Taiyang's rage at Ruby for running away from home or at Qrow for not sending her back had instantly evaporated the moment that the young woman and her red eyed uncle had appeared on screen. "Ruby, Sweetheart! You're okay!" Taiyang had shouted excitedly. He had nearly run right into the screen of the Scroll, his body instinctively rushing to embrace his daughter before he stopped himself.

Ruby smiled nervously at her father, rubbing her arm and struggling to meet his gaze. "Hi, Dad. Yang," she muttered to the two blondes. She looked up at them and grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of her head anxiously. "You, uh, you both know I'd never just die on you."

"Besides, I was there. I kept a cool head the whole time, and kept her safe," Qrow said, his 'I'm a dirty liar' grin flashing on his face.

"Sure," Taiyang said dryly, his glare slowly eroding the cocky look of his old team mate. "Because that was always your specialty, wasn't it Qrow..."

Qrow coughed as something was caught in his throat. "Anyways, uh, little Ruby here is the hero of the day again," Qrow said, smiling down at Ruby and ruffling her hair. The young Huntress shook her head and tried to wave off the embarrassing grip of her mentor. "She and Sora were the two who blew up that huge Sea Serpent. Destroyed the whole thing, just the two of 'em. It was... really, _really_ impressive."

Taiyang's eyes fell to the ground for a moment. Ruby was becoming more and more like her mother every day: determined to fight against the deepest Darkness so that everyone had a chance to see the Light in everything that she could see. Of course, fighting for something like that usually ended up killing you. He quickly looked back up and smiled at Ruby. "Of course it was. I wouldn't expect anything less from my little girl! You used to do the same thing when you were a little girl playing Huntsmen with your sister. Aw, you were so cute, with your little toy swords, bouncing from wall to wall in a flurry of roses!" Taiyang sighed happily, lost in his memories. He shook his head and laughed. "So, when does your flight land at Patch? I'll have everything ready by the time you get home!"

Ruby and her uncle palled and glanced at one another. "Um..." Ruby muttered.

Yang narrowed her eyes on her sister. "It doesn't..." Yang noted simply. She glanced at the ground for a moment before surging to her feet and walking away to her room.

"Yang?" Ruby asked, worried her sister was angry with her.

"Firecracker?" Qrow and Tai asked simultaneously.

Yang didn't return, so Qrow sighed and decided to address the Goliath in the room. "She's right. Ruby isn't coming home, at least not any time soon," the caped warrior explained. He weathered Tai's rage filled glare. "You and I both know that a Huntsman's or Huntress's work isn't done until the final Grimm is cut down and the last criminal either locked in a cell or a coffin."

"Meteors fell from the sky, Qrow! I'm not letting my daughter be anywhere near that old freak!" Taiyang snapped, tearing the Scroll from its stand and bringing it close to his face. He narrowed his eyes at his daughter. "You're coming home. I'm coming to get you if I need to."

"No, I'm not," Ruby said simply, matching and overcoming her father's anger with the steadfast, almost glowing light of her silver eyes. "Jaune, Nora, Ren, Sora... they need me. And I won't let any of my friends get hurt ever again. Not like Yang was. Or Blake. Or Pyrrha! I have a chance to stop Cinder and Xehanort, and I'm taking it."

Taiyang glared angrily at his old team mate. "She gets this from you," he growled at Qrow. Taiyang sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Dust damn it. Fine, Ruby. Fine. You're too much like your mother to stop from doing something stupid if it's the 'right thing to do.' Love you. Call me lots, Ruby." With that, Tai shut off the Scroll and tossed it onto the couch.

"What the hell am I going to do with her?" Tai growled at himself in exasperation. He shook his head when he didn't get any ideas and walked to Yang's room. She hadn't taken Ruby's desire to stay away very well.

Taiyang knocked on the door. "Firecracker? Yang? Are you okay?" he asked loudly through the shut door. There was a series shuffling noises coming from across the doorway, then it creaked open slowly. Tai raised a worried eyebrow and entered slowly.

Yang was wearing her white and black leather biking jacket with sleeves ending in golden rings at her elbows – just over the abrupt end of her right arm – over her tight black shirt. A purple stone hung from her neck. On her remaining hand was a fingerless black glove she'd somehow managed to get on and one half of Ember Celica – her weapon. Her long blonde hair was shinier than Taiyang had seen it in a long while and his daughter looked happier than she'd seemed in that same amount of time. She wore two black and gold belts with a purple and lavender scrap of lace hanging from her left hip. She wore a black-gray mini skirt strapped to black stockings that were adorned with her signature emblem – a burning heart of flames – on the outsides and four golden studs above the knee. The stockings were tucked into a pair of black, strap tied boots with large white ribbons adorning both at the back of the top. Running alongside her, panting and barking happily, was a small ball of black and white fur. Zwei.

"Firecracker?" Taiyang asked as his daughter picked up a bag and walked past him, out of her room. Zwei barked excitedly and barreled after the young woman. Tai frowned and followed them, echoing his earlier question as he did. "Firecracker?"

"What is it, Dad?" Yang asked cheerfully as she opened the refrigerator and pulled out some leftovers. She tossed them into her bag and looked over at him with a simple smile.

"I... what are you doing?" Taiyang asked, examining his daughter and frowning. He raised his hands defensively. " I mean, I'm happy you're finally wearing clothes instead of your pajamas after five and a half months, but... what are you doing?"

Yang laughed and rifled around the fridge again. She grabbed a scrap of bacon and tossed it over her shoulder, Zwei leaping into the air to catch and swallow it. "Well, Ruby's still out there," she said, as if that answered the question. She pulled out a water bottle and placed it into the bag as well.

"You are _not_ going after her, young lady!" Taiyang shouted, trying to sound authoritative.

His daughter's laughter definitely didn't help that goal along. "Of course not. Not yet, at least," Yang responded as she shut the refrigerator. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her Scroll. She turned on the screen and turned it around so her father could see the screen. "That Atlesian Headmaster's message about the prosthetic arm. It says that for the implant to work at its best, I'd need to be in top physical condition, Dad. And I haven't done anything in almost six months! I need to start running, and eating right, and beating people up! I need to start this training out with a _Yang_! Eh?"

Her father burst out in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. "That was a good one!" he shouted, stunned by her joke. Just as Ruby had long ago noticed, those two shared a sense of humor. Or lack thereof.

"Right? Nobody else gets comedy," Yang said, thinking back to when she'd tried that joke at the beginning of second semester, receiving only pained and forced laughter, at best. Disappointed silence at worst.

Taiyang sighed as he slowly brought his laughter under control and looked at his young daughter. She looked so much like her mother, right then. Ready to go out and get in a bar brawl just for the fun of it. He grinned at his memories – he supposed that was a lot like him, too. "I'm so proud of you," Taiyang muttered as he held back tears of pride. He walked forward and began tightly hugging his daughter. The Huntsman sighed contentedly as she slowly hugged him back. "I think it's great you're finally going to go out again. And you know what, how about I go with you? We can go for a run – I bet we'll _Tai!_ " The two blondes who lacked any _good_ sense of humor began laughing with one another, a bright spot of joy appearing in their lives after nearly half a year of sorrow and self pity. "It's good to have my little Firecracker back. Though, maybe we should take it slow and use weapons only when you're ready, hm?"

"Buzzkill," Yang replied simply, clutching her father closer. To herself: "I'm on my way, Ruby."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora sat outside of the CCT tower of Mistral, waiting for Ruby and her uncle to come back from talking with her dad. Jaune, Nora, and Ren were busy enjoying some "Team JNPR" bonding time out on the town, leaving Sora to wait alone. He didn't mind, of course. Sora had been looking for a chance to start looking through the book Xehanort had left him, and this was his biggest chance. He'd started by searching through the CCT for whatever information he could find on _The Key of Destiny_ , and had somehow come up empty. The only information he'd found on the book was that it was a very unique item, but by no means valuable. Very few people knew it existed, and even fewer sought it out. It was based off of an old legend on Remnant, and had only been reprinted once, shortly before the Great War broke out. That event had killed its chances at becoming popular, and it had no chance to catch on during the post war revival of the arts, treated as it was like a relic from a broken past.

Sora slowly opened up the book and began to read through the novel, looking for any hint at what Xehanort had meant for him to find. He wasn't usually the kind to sit around and read, but he had experience with dense material after finding all of Xehanort's old notes and experiment records. What he read was odd, and somewhat familiar. The first chapter seemed to contain sparse information about an event eerily similar to the Keyblade War, an event whose existence was usually hidden from all who were not Masters of the Keyblade itself. However, the book did not call it by that name, instead opting to give it the title of "The Shattering."

"Oooh! Is that the weird book the old guy gave you?" Nora's voice called out. Sora shut the book and looked up to see Ren, Nora, and Jaune walking across the square. He jumped to his feet and slipped the book back into his pocket. "Find anything good yet?"

"Maybe," Sora said with a shrug. He grinned over at the others. "What's up with you guys?"

"Oh!" Nora shouted, excitedly bouncing from side to side. "Ren asked me to the dance in two days! And, I don't think as just friends, like maybe more than friends, but I don't know. Ren! What do you think about it?"

The green clad huntsman laughed at Nora's excitement and confusion. "Of course, Nora. How many times will I have to assure you?" he asked, an actual smile appearing on his face as he looked over at the girl.

"And I was a very awkward third wheel," Jaune said, turning away from his team mates who were smiling at each other like lovesick puppies. He shook his head at Sora, who laughed at his friend's mock pain. "Well, I take it Ruby and Qrow aren't back from talking with her dad and sister yet?"

"Just went in," Sora replied, gesturing over at the tower's doors with his thumb. "Why?"

"Well, we were planning on going to eat soon and thought we'd get you guys first so we could all celebrate together," Ren explained, his face stoic once more. His hand was dangling close to that of Nora, his index finger wrapped around hers.

"Are you sure? You two can -"

"We insist!" Nora shouted, hands firing into as she screamed excitedly.

The Keyblade Wielder laughed. "Okay," he said in agreement. He looked around. "Where we headed?"

"I'll take you there," Jaune said, grabbing Sora's shoulder and pulling him away. "Nora and Ren'll wait here for Ruby and lead her there."

"Why don't we all just wait?" Sora asked, confused.

Jaune stopped and glanced back at Nora and Ren. They motioned furiously with their hands for Jaune to come up with something. "Right... uh... Someone needs to get our names in so the wait will... take... less time...?"

Sora stared blankly at Jaune for a while. He cocked his head to the side for a moment, then grinned. "Cool! Let's get going!"

As Jaune and Sora walked away, Ren and Nora glanced at one another. "He... fell for that?" Nora asked, stunned by Sora's lack of ability to see through any form of deception by his friends.

"I... guess so," Ren said, also stunned.

Nora grabbed his wrist and dragged him over to the bench. "Come on! Let's wait over there!"

Jaune and Sora, while Ren and Nora waited for Ruby, were walking through the city side by side. "So, where we headed?" Sora asked again, hands laced together behind his head. He looked over at Jaune, one eyebrow raised as he did.

"I, um, we're on our way there," Jaune said, stumbling over his words. He pointed straight ahead. "Just keep walking!"

"Cool! But, what kind of food is it?" Sora asked further.

"Why are you asking so many questions!?" Jaune shouted a bit too hurriedly.

"What's wrong?" Sora inquired obliviously.

"I – oh, look, we're here!" Jaune shouted, pulling Sora to the right and straight into the restaurant.

"You wait right here," Jaune said, stopping beside the door and motioning for the Keyblade wielder, who was growing ever more confused, to stand still. "I'll go put our name in. Then I gotta use the restroom."

"O... kay," Sora muttered. He shrugged at how weird things were as Jaune walked away and... whispered to the hostess. Even Sora had to admit his friends were acting weird right then. "Whatever."

Sora looked around. The restaurant was dimly lit by candles, the illumination casting light shadows across the room. Outside, where the sun was beginning to set, there was another table being prepared much the same beneath a black umbrella. It had two chairs that overlooked the ocean, which was beginning to glimmer. "Hm... this doesn't seem like a place a bunch of people go to to celebrate together..." Sora muttered to himself. He looked over at the faces assembled in the dining area. "Why are all the tables two person only? We'll need... three tables if Qrow decides to eat with us." Sora crossed his arms and shrugged. It wouldn't be too difficult to move the tables – even if they were heavy, he could probably lift them himself with the strength the Keyblade afforded him.

"Sir." Sora looked up at the Hostess. She smiled, holding a pair of menus beneath her left arm. "Sir, your table is ready."

"Cool!" Sora said with a grin. The woman smiled back and gestured for Sora to follow her. He did so, the woman leading him into the dining area and past a few tables. She hooked a hard left and entered another room, leading Sora past a few tables of couples making faces and laughing with one another. Sora was busy looking for the place where three of the small, circular tables were put together for him and his friends.

The woman continued to the end of the room and opened a door. "Just out here," she said as Sora passed her. Sora blinked and looked around in confusion as the woman placed the two menus she had been carrying down on the table. "Um... aren't there supposed to be -" Sora was cut off as the door opened again and slammed shut, leaving Sora alone at the table for two. "More... tables?" he finished.

Sora sighed to himself and shrugged, figuring that he could ask about it when the hostess came back with the others. He pulled out one of the chairs and sat down with a happy sigh. He picked up one of the menus and began to go through the list of items he could order. After a couple seconds, he put it down on the table again and craned his neck to see the street, looking for Ren, Nora, and Ruby. He was much more surprised to see Jaune running away from the restaurant, in the direction opposite the CCT tower. "Um... what's going on?" Sora asked himself as his eyes followed the blonde knight's path down the hill. As Jaune disappeared, Sora blinked and leaned back in his chair. Why would Jaune leave him here at the restaurant alone? Sora shook his head, not really caring why. They'd all show up eventually.

At the top of the hill, Ruby and Qrow were exiting the CCT tower together, their conversation with Yang and Taiyang having just finished up. "I wonder what had Yang acting like that," Ruby muttered, a little disappointed in her sister. "I wish she was as fired up as she usually is. Then at least I'd _know_ if she was angry with me."

"Eh, I'm sure she'll figure it all out," Qrow assured, ruffling his niece's hair. "Firecracker's just waiting for the right time to go off. When she does, it'll be spectacular. Just you wait."

"Ruby!" Nora shouted, drawing the young Huntress's attention. Ruby looked over and she and her uncle walked over to where the crazed berserker and her partner waited. "Hey! How was talking with your sister and dad!?"

"It was... weird. Yang was all serious and angry, and Dad tried to get me to come home," Ruby explained with a shrug. She sighed. "So, normal since the Dragon, I guess."

"Sorry," Ren said simply. He checked the time on his Scroll. "Oh! We're almost late for dinner."

Qrow checked his own Scroll. "Hm, me too. I'm meeting Raven to talk about what's next," he said. He laughed when he saw Ruby's worried face. "Don't worry, Kiddo. You and your friends are definitely coming with me to find this Salem person. And... I think it's time I let you in on some secrets, too. But that can wait till after you've had some fun at the dance."

"Dance? Fun? Sure," Ruby muttered, remembering her last attempt at 'enjoying' a dance. "With my luck, I'll probably get in a fight with another secret criminal and end up missing the entire thing..."

"Don't jinx it," Qrow laughed. He ruffled her hair again, enjoying her annoyed glare. "Okay. See you kids soon." He cast a funny glare at Nora and Ren before walking off with his hands in his pockets.

"Well, Jaune and Sora ran ahead to get a table for dinner," Ren said simply. He gestured over his shoulder. "They should be waiting for us by now."

"Cool! What's the restaurant?" Ruby asked, beginning to walk in the direction Ren had pointed a moment before.

"It's close. We'll be there faster than you can turn into a torpedo of roses!" Nora said cheerfully, marching off at the front of the group. They walked together for a few minutes, trading jokes and compliments.

"I'm glad you're finally awake, Ren," Ruby said, slapping her friend on the shoulder and casting a look at Nora. "And, of course, I bet Nora is, too."

"Yes," Ren acknowledged, smirking as he sidestepped the quiet laughter he had grown accustomed to. "She was incredibly excited when I asked her to the dance."

Ruby stopped in her tracks. "You what?" she asked. Ren just turned around and walked backwards down the hill. He smiled and nodded before turning around again.

Ruby felt awestruck. Ren and Nora had finally gotten over their 'Not _together_ together' excuse and decided to go on a... a date? Well, it had to happen eventually, but Ruby hadn't expected it to be so soon. "Congratulations!" she shouted, dashing forward and looping one arm around the shoulders of either of her peers. She hugged them tight. "That's so great you guys! How did he ask?"

"Oh! He showed me what noise a sloth makes!" Nora shouted, her voice nearly deafening Ruby's right ear for a moment. Nora giggled sheepishly. "Sorry..."

"Well, first I – We'll tell you later, Ruby. We're here," Ren said, leading her to the door. He opened it and gestured for Ruby to enter. He and Nora followed her. Ren walked ahead as they entered the waiting area and spoke to the hostess. She walked over with him, smiling kindly. "So, they're -"

"Ren! I forgot that... _THING!_ " Nora suddenly shouted. She jumped forward, crashing through four groups of customers and knocking over a vase that Ren barely caught before it would have shattered on the ground. He sighed in relief and placed it back on its stand as Nora continued to stammer and pull on his shoulder. "Remember! That thing down at the base of the hill! Come with me to pick it up!"

Ruby smiled and began to say helpfully, "Oh, I'll go with -"

"NO!" Ren and Nora shouted hurriedly. Ren scratched the back of his head and glanced up for a moment before raising his index finger to the ceiling, as if he had an idea. "No, uh, you know what? It's, um, a gift! For you. So we'll go get it and bring it back. Follow her, she'll take you to the table!" Ren let himself then be pulled out the door by his partner. "Sorryseeyousoon!" he shouted as quickly as he could while he was yanked out of the building.

Ruby watched the two go, confused for a moment. "Um... okay," she muttered before turning to follow the hostess towards the table. She was led into the dining area, then left into a second room full of tables and eventually outside. The door shut quickly behind her and she realized, suddenly, that no one else in the team would show up.

"Ruby! Finally, I've been waiting here eating bread alone for fifteen minutes!" the Keyblade wielder said as he grabbed another small loaf of bread from a basket at the center of the candle lit table and stuffed it whole into his mouth. Ruby flinched at the candles, then looked up at the umbrella, then over at the sunset whose light ricocheted off of the ocean like it was a sea of gems. "Where's everyone else?" Ruby slapped her forehead. Obviously, Sora wasn't in on this.

"They're not coming," she said as she sat down and grabbed some of the bread from the basket. She sighed and bit into it after a moment.

"Why?" Sora asked, ever oblivious to the deception of those closest to him. He bit into another loaf of bread and stared at Ruby with wide, naive eyes.

Ruby blushed and began to cycle her arms in front of her like a wheel. "Well, you know..."

"What?"

Ruby slapped her forehead again. "I think they want us to talk about something," Ruby pointed out, hoping that would help Sora understand.

But this was the guy who forgot he'd become a Heartless once. "What? What should we talk about?" he inquired honestly.

"So... maybe – just maybe – um... You know how we would always joke about Ren and Nora being _together_ together?"

"Oh! They're going to the dance together!" Sora shouted, cheerfully going out on a tangent. "Finally, right?"

"Right," Ruby agreed with a smile and a laugh. She looked to the side and pulled her hood over her eyes to hide her deepening blush. She decided to pull away from the digression and back to the normal conversation. "But, um... so, those jokes, right?"

"Yeah? What about them?"

Ruby coughed as her voice left her for a moment. She gestured between Sora and herself. "So... Um..." she bit her lip and then sighed. Better to just say it. "So they and Jaune make the same jokes about us!"

Sora froze and his hand opened, the loaf of bread he'd been holding falling onto a small plate in front of him. "They... w-what?" he asked nervously. He looked around, as if suddenly realizing where he was. The romantically dim candles, the beautiful sunset, the entire restaurant being filled with couples. "Oh my God, we're on a date..."

Ruby gulped and laughed anxiously, saying, "Yep..."

Sora glanced up at Ruby, then down at his plate again. His cheeks were almost as red as her cloak by that point. "Um... Ha... uh," he groaned. He looked up and grinned, forcing a joking tone into his voice. "Oh, those... those guys and their... jokes..."

"Ha! Yeah," Ruby muttered cheerily. Her voice turned slightly to disappointment. "Jokes."

The two were silent for a while. Finally, "Um, Ruby -"

"Sora -"

They both stopped talking and looked down nervously. "Y-you first?" Ruby suggested after a brief pause.

Sora laughed. "I... sure," he said. He looked up at her, steeling himself. He'd never felt this flustered before in his life! "So, I actually have two things? Is that, er, okay?"

Ruby nodded, happy to have a few more minutes."Go ahead," she said, her voice breaking slightly as she pulled down her hood. She blushed again, but Sora didn't seem to notice and she pulled her hood down all the way.

"So... remember how you said I could tell you where I'm from when I was ready?" he asked. Ruby felt her heart skip. He was going to tell her some big secret!? That was... well, that meant he really trusted her. But, like... a friend, or... what? "Well, I want to tell you now. I – it's not... Um, I just feel like I want you to know. Even though Master Yen Sid and King Mickey will kill me for it." He laughed anxiously. "Um, just let me start over."

"Take your time," Ruby said, trying to figure out what she would say as she listened.

"Destiny Islands is... it's not _on_ Remnant," Sora said, scratching his left hand nervously. He looked up at Ruby. "I'm from another world."

"Like an alien?!" Ruby asked. She hadn't expected a secret _that_ big!

"No! No, I'm human," he assured her, putting his hands up as if that could stop her from freaking out. It wasn't working.

"A person from another planet. That's..."

"A lot. Yeah," Sora agreed, causing Ruby to laugh dryly.

"More than a lot, maybe," she responded, still a little awestruck.

Sora laughed at that. "Believe me, I get it. It's weird?" he asked, scratching the back of his head now and grinning. He sighed and looked down, avoiding Ruby's gaze. He was worried she'd be angry. "All the stories I've told you, they're true. They just... didn't happen here."

Ruby nodded, her mind beginning to process what she'd been trusted with. It explained a lot, in retrospect. He didn't know what Dust was, or a Faunus. The Great War hadn't even been part of his vocabulary. He didn't really have a Semblance, and he fell like a star from the sky. "I guess it's not _that_ weird," she muttered.

Sora sighed in relief. "Really? Good," he said, laughing as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "I... and, I guess this is the second thing, too. Um... I wanted to tell you first because, I, um... Well, Ruby, I like you. I mean, in a... well... I mean... Well, the jokes are right when they're about me."

Ruby's heart skipped another beat. Did he just..? "Did you just..?"

Sora grinned sheepishly. "I, um... I really like you. You're fun and smart and funny and clever and pretty and – well, now I'm rambling. Wow, is it hot out here? Or..." he began to stumble over his words, mumbling about how he was suddenly very thirsty.

"The jokes are right about me, too" Ruby suddenly said, causing the Keyblade wielder to freeze. "I was wondering... would you like to go to the dance in a not friends, more something else maybe kind of way? Great, now I'm rambling..."

Sora looked up at her, mouth very dry. "I... I'm happy about that. I... Yes. I do."

The door suddenly flew open, three bodies crashing onto the ground beside Sora and Ruby's table. "I said move from the door so I could listen!" Nora shouted, struggling to extricate herself from the top of the pile without hurting the others.

"It was my turn!" Ren retorted, struggling from the middle of the pile..

"We just got here! We couldn't just try and figure out a way for us all to listen in before we tried to figure out 'turns!?'" Jaune cried out, trying to shove Ren and Nora off of him.

The three stopped as the silence pressed in and they looked slowly up at the wide eyed, blushing Sora and Ruby. "Great. We missed it," Nora whined angrily. "They already talked about their feelings. Good job, Ren..."

"It was my turn!" he retorted again.

 **AN: ZWEI!**

 **Also Yang. If you like her, I guess (GO YANG!).**

 **Don't worry, we'll be seeing her again soon enough, kicking ass and taking names far outside of her season 3 weight class. But it wouldn't make sense for her to just jump back into Huntsman-ing after moping around for so long, right? She won't show up as a big fighter until at least chapter 20. Also, she'll be meeting up with Raven soon. Tai will be... probably angrier than his daughter.**

 **To Keyslinger Roxas: I agree. Sora will eventually have to confront and accept that he has Darkness, even if he can't weaponize it quite like Riku can. The only way to overcome something is to acknowledge it exists, after all.**

 **To 7(Guest): I hope her end goal is more than surprising enough to everyone.**

 **To Warrior of Six Blades: I hope "-Za" magic will show up as spells or the ends of Limits at least in the third game as something that can radically change Heartless boss battles, too. It will also be showing up later in this story.**

 **As for Salem, yes. Her short term plan isn't too different from Xehanort's, in that she's trying to find a new body. Whether she will get it...**

 **Anyways,** ** _The Key of Destiny_** **was not written by the old man, but we've met the person who put the story onto paper again. And, just for clarification, it isn't the Silver Eyes of Ruby Xehanort finds familiar. Rather, it's something else about her entirely. Though, I'm sure he has a few hypotheses on how or why they exist and why their powers are based on Light magic.**

 **Also, I can't wait to see your story! Good luck!**


	16. Ties That Bind

**AN: Hey everyone! Sorry for the longer than usual update time. I've been up to a lot recently with my family. And when I got halfway through this, I decided I didn't like how it was going and had to rewrite. On top of that, it's a bridge chapter between the last arc and the final stretch before chapter 20, and it has no fights, which flow a lot easier sometimes. All of it together just kind of compounded.**

 **Anyways, I'm glad last chapter was so well liked. I'm excited for Yang to show up later, as well as Weiss and Blake.**

 **To gamelover41592: I aim to (awkwardly) please.**

 **To 7: Weiss and Blake will show up later, at about the same time. Weiss is still stuck in her family home and Blake is going to feel terrible she couldn't figure out about Adam's next target, and her go to response when things go south is to run away. Also, they've both been active while Yang has been laying around the entire time, so I've so far decided against a second pre-introduction section for the both of them, but if the inspiration strikes one or both might get a section.**

 **To sethman610 & ShadowWarriorOmega: I don't want to give too much away, but Sora's certainty about how it's inevitable his friends will find him is going to factor in a lot when the team comes face to face with Salem, as well as in what Xehanort is planning. It's connected to the book the old man left Sora, as well.**

 **To M8: You called me M8, so I'll go the same for you. To be honest, I forgot completely to cover the lack of summonings. Thanks for bringing that up or I would have never remembered! I bring up why he hasn't done all that in this chapter, so thanks again.**

 ** _Chapter 16: Ties That Bind_**

"I have _never_ been so very happy for a woman to turn me down," Jaune said as the topic of conversation between him, Ren, and Sora turned towards the race that the Knight had lost on the day of the attack. Despite his hope that Ruby and Sora had forgotten about it in the violence that had followed, they had pushed him to ask the young woman to the dance. She had turned him down, much to the Knight's relief. "Coco and her handbag have always been... terrifying."

"Agreed," Ren muttered, shivering.

"Really?" Sora asked, nonplussed by what his friends were saying. He frowned at the ground then looked back up at his friends, confusions till evident on his face. "Why?"

"The huge gun?" Ren suggested. He raised his hand and began to count off the list. "Her overbearing personality, her utter hatred of people who don't dress up to her standards, how she will go completely insane if she gets some dust on her outfit? On top of that, Jaune's clumsy around girls, so of course it wouldn't have ended well."

"Hey!" Jaune responded indignantly. Then he shrugged and clasped his hands in front of himself. "Yeah..."

The three boys were waiting together outside the room where Ruby and Nora were getting ready for the dance, the topics of conversation never getting too deep or speculative on the coming events. There would be tons of time to worry about Xehanort or Salem tomorrow; for now, the theme of the day was fun. Well, actually it was 'Dragon Slayers of Remnant,' with Ruby and Sora being considered the guests of honor, but the Keyblade Wielder didn't care much for praise like that. Not for just being himself.

Sora was wearing a black suit jacket and pants with patent leather shoes. Beneath that he wore a button up shirt of deep crimson with a black and white checkerboard tie; the shirt was unbuttoned at the very top button and the tie slightly loose. Around his neck was his crown necklace, one of his style's permanent fixtures. Ren was wearing a black suit as well, with pink and magenta accents. His shirt was white, and he wore a bow tie of pink and magenta alternating stripes. Jaune was dressed differently from the two of them, with a white jacket over a gray shirt tucked into his black dress pants. The Knight's tie was the standard black, save for a golden insignia shaped like his family's coat of arms just below the knot.

"So... what do you think they're doing in there?" Sora asked. He checked his scroll and raised an eyebrow. "It's already been two hours!?"

"Buddy, if there's one thing that the men of the Arc family knows," Jaune said, putting his arm around Sora's shoulders, "it's that women are a mystery that we can never fully understand. Let us not consider what we can never know."

"Riiiight," Sora responded, rolling his eyes before laughing with Ren and Jaune. Sora smiled as he changed the topic. "So, it's really _not_ weird that I'm from another world? I get Ruby not being freaked out, but -"

"A person's place of origin is meaningless when compared to the place where they have arrived," Ren pointed out, raising one finger as he did. He shrugged and shook his head. "And when you told us, Nora whispered to me that she'd already guessed you were from further than even you let on as soon as you crashed into us from the sky."

"The things that girl notices," Jaune muttered under his breath dryly. He raised his voice and said with the most serious face he could muster, "Well, as long as you don't bring a bunch of UFO's to terrorize the planet and steal our resources, I don't see a problem."

"Dang! There goes my weekend," the Keyblade Wielder said mockingly. He punched Jaune's shoulder. "That's only in movies, Jaune. I had one Gummi Ship and I don't even know if it's good for attacking a world from... 'Space.'"

"Hey, I'm not worried! Anymore..." Jaune muttered sheepishly.

"Well, then the invasion's going perfectly," Sora said, raising his hands like claws and warbling an inhuman noise. Jaune and Ren laughed at the face Sora held after the sound died down, with the Keyblade Wielder joining in after a few seconds. "Ah, I like that Ren laughs and smiles now. I promised I'd get you to laugh the moment I met you, and it finally starts happening."

Ren rolled his eyes and smirked at the Keyblade Wielder. "I laughed – on the inside," he half protested. He shook his head at the disappointed glare of Sora. "Well, it didn't help half of the time you were joking about Nora and me. I could not always see the humor in it, could I?"

"You couldn't even see the _truth_ in it," Jaune remarked, causing Sora to laugh heartily. Ren just glared at them, unamused with their jokes. Jaune smirked at his friend's serious glare. "Oh, good. I thought old Ren had disappeared."

Sora laughed with Jaune at that for a while until he began to hear footsteps coming down the hall. He glanced down and stopped laughing, smiling at the dusty old Qrow approaching them. "Hey, Qrow," Sora said, waving at the warrior who was walking with his gaze locked on the ground and his hands firmly in his pockets. The older man was wearing a suit not dissimilar to his usual outfit. He was wearing a black shirt unbuttoned at the top two buttons beneath a gray and black suit jacket. His sleeves, still, were rolled up. Around his unbuttoned shirt's top was a loose tie matching the color of his ever present cape. "Qrow?"

"Hm?" the man muttered, looking up suddenly. He shook his head and smirked at the three boys. "What are you three up to? Doing each others nails and gossiping about cute boys?"

"Ha. Just waiting on Ruby and Nora," Sora said dryly. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Did you know girls took this long to get ready?"

"You've only been waiting two hours, right? They've got a lot more to deal with. Besides, two hours is nothing. Raven took six hours to get her miles of hair ready for a dance once," Qrow said, laughing quietly at his memories. He gestured at the door with his shoulder. "I bet dear old sis started this morning and won't finish until _after_ those two."

"To be fair, her hair is like, waist length," Sora pointed out, making a hair shape with his hands. "And looks like it's more than half her weight."

"Us Branwens do have very thick hair," Qrow admitted with a shrug.

Sora laughed for a moment. "Wait! Qrow, before I forget, could I talk to you for a minute? I have a big favor to ask," he said, jumping towards the Huntsman. Qrow flinched backwards at the exuberant smile of the young man, then nodded slowly. "Great!" Sora turned to look at Ren and Jaune. "I'll be back in a sec, guys." Then he walked off, Qrow following him with a shrug.

"Why don't you want Blondie and Lovebird over there listening in?" Qrow asked as Sora rounded a corner and turned around. The Huntsman raised an eyebrow and pulled his hands from his pockets before crossing them over his chest.

"Because I thought it'd be better if it was a surprise. For now," Sora said, grinning at Qrow. "Tell me, how easy would it be to book us transport for wherever we're going that has a large training area?"

"It might cost me a favor or two," Qrow responded. The man cocked his head to the side. "Why?"

"Well, Xehanort taught his lackeys how to use Darkness," Sora said with a nonchalant shrug. Then he grinned wide. "I want to try and teach everyone how to use Light against Xehanort's goons."

Qrow whistled, actually impressed. "Wow. You really think they've got what it takes."

"Ruby already has this weird... connection with it. Jaune and everyone else have the Hearts for it. It'll be a blast," Sora said, glint in his eye as he smiled at Qrow and shot the Huntsman a thumbs up. "Next time we run into those bad guys, the fights will turn out _very_ different. Believe me."

"I already do, Kid," Qrow said, shooting the kid a smile. "And Sora – thanks for making a decision. I'm glad to see what I said got through to you, especially as fast as it did."

Sora blushed and began to scratch the back of his head. "Ah, it's nothing..." he began, glancing down and blushing even deeper. He looked back up after a moment and fought off the red in his cheeks. "To be fair, I had a lot of help, Qrow. If Nora, Ren, and Jaune hadn't set us up, who knows how long it could have taken?"

"Good friends, huh?" Qrow said with a sad smile.

Sora didn't quite notice the subtle sadness, instead cheerfully agreeing, "Some of the best."

Qrow nodded wistfully, his mind wandering to the good times he'd had with Aride. "Then hold on to 'em. World's a dangerous place if you don't keep close with the people you care about," Qrow cautioned. He shook his head from his reverie and returned his trademark smirk to his face. "So, Kid, do I need to repeat any of my many, many threats to you now that you're going on a date with my niece? I have a few new ones, and I think they're scarier than the others."

Sora palled. "I... uh..."

Qrow laughed boisterously and turned to go back to the door and wait for Ruby. "Or not. Just know that, whatever it is you're imagining, it can't be worse than what I'd have planned." Then Qrow began to amble around the corner and down the hall. Sora stared at the place where the Huntsman had stood for a second, trembling at the knowledge that Qrow could probably come up with some pretty twisted punishments. Then Sora smoothed his jacket and fought off his imagination. He took a deep breath and followed Qrow, looking up at the ceiling as his mind turned to how he'd help his friends learn how to use the Light.

"Finally, Sora!"

Sora grinned and looked down at the source of the voice, saying, "Hey Ru – Wow..." Qrow smirked at the Keyblade wielder from behind his niece.

Ruby blushed at that. "Oh, shut up," she said, clasping her hands in front of her. She was wearing a dress that ended three quarters of the way down her thigh in the front and trailed out to mid-calf in the back. It was mainly a deep red, but there was a thorn-like pattern that crisscrossed the fabric in a way that reminded Sora of, fittingly, roses. Ruby had a chain around her throat from which dangled a small, silver-white version of her Rose insignia. The Huntress was wearing black, high heel straps, appearing much more nervous than was usual for her as she wobbled from side to side. "Coco kind of forced her way onto our dress trip."

Behind her, Nora was dancing around the quietly smiling Ren. She was dressed in a two tone dress with a flowery skirt. The top coloring was shaped like a heart in magenta and the skirt was closer to hot pink that gradually faded into white towards the bottom. Her shoes were light pink wedges over white tights. "Ren! Ren! Do I look good? You look good!"

"Of course, Nora," Ren responded with a less quiet smile. "Thanks."

"Yes, yes, you're all very pretty. I'm sure you'll all tie for Prom Queen," Qrow remarked dryly, gesturing around at the kids. "But if we don't get going, we're going to be late. So, move. Now."

 ** _R W B Y_**

The dance was located in the main hall of Haven Academy, a huge ballroom filled with keys hanging from the ceiling. "You know, I get that Sora and Ruby saved the place, but did no one really notice that they've made this a _Key Party_?" Qrow asked as he entered the room with the kids. He gestured up at the decorations, but earned only a blank look from the kids. "R-really? I mean... oh, come on!"

"I understand, Little Brother," Raven said, appearing out of the shadows. She was wearing a tight fitting black dress with a slit running up to her mid thigh on the left. She wore a crimson, feather like sash as a belt that trailed down to her left knee, covering the slit slightly. The dress had a tight sleeve that wrapped around her right palm like a glove. Her left side was bare at the shoulder, giving the top of the dress an asymmetric slant. Her hair trailed down to the small of her back in its usual look. "This crowd is a little young for that kind of event. Save _her_."

Qrow growled. "By five minutes," he growled. Then the Huntsman shook his head. "And who do you mean? Not –" Qrow shook his head again as he realized that his sister did, in fact, mean the Ice Queen. He looked over at the kids, noticing how much they'd changed recently. Ruby's hair was longer, making her look even more like her mother, and a fair bit taller. Though, likely still much shorter than Yang. Sora's hair had calmed down, somewhat, the spikes becoming slightly flatter on the top of his head. He retained his youthful look, but had grown somewhat into an adult. Blondie stood with a confidence that he had lacked even at the beginning of their journey, making him look like Argent from the few times Qrow had spoken with the kid. Even Ren and Nora were different, his injury having caused both of them to approach the mean; where he had once been stoic, Ren had learned how to smile, and where she was once bouncing off the walls, Nora would now smile more contently. Not to say he still wasn't the quiet one and she the crazy one; all five of them were still very much the same people they had been months earlier at the start of their journey – little more than normal kids. Qrow sighed. "Go have fun. We can talk tomorrow."

The kids glanced at one another then shrugged and walked off. "See ya, Uncle Qrow," Ruby called, waving at him as they all walked off together.

Qrow smiled and waved them off before turning back to his sister. "Rae, I –" Qrow growled to himself and clenched his fists at his sides. His sister was already gone. He muttered, "God dammit, Rae."

Sora and the others, meanwhile, were beginning to enjoy themselves. "Guys!" a familiar voice called as a golden haired Faunus – not wearing a tie – and a blue haired boy in a suit, walked over to them. Neither had a date at their arms. "Hey, how are you guys?"

"Neptune! Sun! We're... pretty good, actually. How about you?" Ruby asked, smiling at her friends.

"Good. Good," Neptune said, scratching the back of his head. He grinned after a moment and shrugged. "I guess we can't complain. We're famous by association with you guys. Friends with the champion team from Vale. Or would you prefer 'The Dragon Slayers of Remnant?' Sidenote, super glad they changed the theme from 'Enchantment Under the Sea.'"

"Dude," Sun muttered in disappointment.

"Oh, it was nothing," Sora said, waving the title off. It was meaningless to him, after all. "I just did what anyone would have done."

"Oh, just take the compliment," Jaune said, half envious. "It's not bragging if you've actually killed one of the biggest monsters ever!"

"Eh, I've destroyed lots bigger," Sora said with a nonchalant shrug.

The others had no real response to that. At first, they didn't quite believe Sora. That monster had been the size of a three story building! Of course, Sora wasn't the kind to run around and brag about himself, either, so they decided to take that at face value. Sora was a scary guy. After a long pause, Sun decided to change the topic of conversation."Can't believe we haven't seen you since the end of the Tournament," he said. He crossed his arms and looked around. "You guys been avoiding us?"

"If it's Sun's smell, that's completely fair," Neptune noted. Sun frowned and sniffed himself. He cringed then shrugged in defeat.

Ruby snickered and shook his head. She pointed with her thumb over at Ren and Nora, who were nervously holding hands. "Nothing like that. Those two just had to stop making eyes at each other and decide to jump into it head first," she responded with a grin. Ren glared at her dryly for this while Nora just smiled brightly.

A smile that contained her own retort. "Yep. And we had to plan how to get Ruby and Sora how to do the same thing. We'll tell you all about how awkward they were later!" Nora shouted, drawing the attention of those near their group.

"Could you have said that any louder?" Ruby asked, and she immediately knew it had been a mistake to do so.

" _SORA AND RUBY HAD AN AMAZINGLY AWKWARD FIRST DATE!"_ Nora screamed at the top of her lungs, drowning out the intensely loud music and causing the _entire party_ to turn and look right at Sora and Ruby. The music even stopped for a while as the spotlight centered on the two increasingly embarrassed warriors. Sora snickered and leaned over to Ren, whispering excitedly, "Maybe their second will be _more_ awkward!"

Sora looked around, his hand in Ruby's. "Um..." The entire room was staring right at them, as if waiting for these two teenagers to make a decision. Sora chuckled nervously and whispered so only Ruby could hear, "I was less nervous fighting the Sea Serpent."

"You too?" Ruby agreed, voice squeaky. "I don't have a plan for this, do you have a plan?"

"No," Sora responded. Then the music began to play again, though the spotlight remained and everyone continued to stare at them. "Well, maybe I do now."

Ruby looked over at him, ignoring the music. "No."

"Yes."

"No," Ruby replied, glaring in annoyance at the Keyblade Wielder. He thought she looked nervous.

"Then... fight me," he said, grinning. Ruby cringed, taken aback by that. Fight him? "Dancing and fighting are... kind of similar." He looked over at Jaune, whom he had heard was quite the footloose master. "Right?"

"Sure," the Knight responded. He smiled and nodded at the two. "Except a lot easier, I think."

Sora turned back to Ruby. "Come on. Once, and then nobody will pay attention. I think."

Ruby just glared at him as the instrumental intro began to play again. "Fine," she glared, grabbing Sora's outstretched hand. He grinned and pulled her into the crowd, dancing with her. After a few moments, so too did everyone else in the room. "This is a good song."

"What's it called?" Sora asked as they moved together to the beat.

"Red Like Roses."

The Keyblade Wielder laughed. "I guess that's perfect," he said as he caught sight of Ruby staring at him. He smiled fondly at the young Huntress. "Given present company and everything."

"Well, the decorations are all you," Ruby responded with a snicker.

"You had to remind me?" Sora asked dryly as he spun Ruby in time with the music. He brought her close again and dipped her. "I'll drop you."

"Liar," Ruby responded with a more confident smile. She pulled herself up and spun Sora away. To the bewildered Keyblade wielder: "You said you wanted a fight."

"You're on," Sora replied, running towards her with a huge grin on his face.

 ** _R W B Y_**

Qrow watched his niece dance around with the Keyboy, enjoying herself. As much as he hated to see Ruby with any boy, at least it was one who challenged her. She hated dancing in public, considering herself 'Socially Awkward.' After a short while, the rest of their team joined in with the crowd, laughter and voices mixing together above the music. "Have fun, Ruby," Qrow muttered before turning around to leave. He shut his eyes and pocketed his hands; he needed a drink.

He had to stop, however, when he crashed into another person. "Eh, sorry," he grunted, opening his eyes and instinctively grabbing the woman by her shoulders.

"No it was my -" they both stopped speaking when they caught sight of one another. Qrow hurriedly pushed the woman to her feet and took a step back. Winter Schnee narrowed her eyes on Qrow Branwen and crossed her arms. "Drunkard."

"Ice Queen," Qrow responded, losing his cocky grin. He looked the woman up and down. She was wearing a dress of a white that matched her hair, save for the light blue and gray Schnee snow flakes that came together on one side of her full length skirt. She was wearing elbow length white gloves. "You look... good."

Winter blushed and was quiet for a moment. She remained quiet for a short moment, searching for words. "And you look the same," she finally replied, her face becoming – somehow – even more disdainful. "But worse."

"Oh! Charming as always," Qrow responded with a smirk. He looked down and shook his head, entertained by the younger woman's response. She was almost as snarky as him, sometimes. Finally he looked back up at her; he wanted to speak to the Schnee about something. So he held out his hand as the song ended, knowing another would soon begin. People were clapping softly for the song choice. "Dance?"

"With... me?" the woman responded, befuddled by this sudden question.

"No. With the woman behind you, Ice Queen," Qrow explained mockingly. He held his hand out straighter, then raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Well?"

Winter considered Qrow's open palm for a moment. Her face flashed between annoyed and actually considering the inquiry. "Going once, twice..."

"Fine," Winter finally snapped, grabbing Qrow's hand. "Though what game are you – Eek!" She was suddenly twirled closer to Qrow, wrapped in his arms.

"Not a very lady like sound, Ice Queen," he taunted into her ear, his breath hot on the side of her neck.

Winter gulped down her lack of retort and spun again, pushing him away until they were again connected only by their outstretched hands. Her annoyed blue eyes burrowed into her partner's laughing red ones. "I feel naked without my weapon."

"Is that an offer," Qrow asked, snickering at the growing blush on Winter's face. "Cause – Eek!" He was suddenly twirled around into her arms.

"I lead," Winter commanded. Qrow laughed nervously at that. "Also, not a very manly sound, Drunkard."

"Oh, you are just a treat." Qrow smirked and spun away from her. He looked her up and down again. "Is that a challenge, Ice Queen?" His face soured suddenly. "Because unfortun – because I have more important things to talk to you about."

Winter froze at the sudden change in Qrow's countenance. "Then lead better," she responded approaching him. He shifted the grip between his right hand and her left then looped his hand onto her hip. Winter placed her free hand on his shoulder. "I do not tolerate lack of grace in a dance partner."

"Good," Qrow said as the beat picked up again. He began to lead her through the dance, the two moving with the practiced grace of warriors who had long trained in battle. Their every step was perfectly in time with the music, and eventually everyone else began to give them a small berth, not wanting to be put into any kind of competition with them. Still, though, Qrow did not begin to ask her any questions.

Qrow eventually pulled her closer. "Now. Why did you defend me against the Councils?" He noticed her stiffen just barely. "Calm down, Ice Queen."

"I already explained myself, Drunkard," Winter responded, pulling away with the music before letting Qrow lead again. She did not wish to begin this conversation with him. He saw that, but kept quiet nonetheless. They continued their dance for a while, quietly going about their movements together. As they neared one another again, Winter lost to the urge to say something else. "Your sister seemed most concerned for you. When she came to retrieve the General, that is."

"Really? And here I thought she didn't care," Qrow replied dryly as he sped up to the pace of the music. He shrugged to himself. "If she came for Jimmy, why did you come?"

"The General was busy. If he did not remain in Atlas –" she stopped herself from revealing too much. "He had pressing matters to deal with and decided I would be more than adequate as a substitute."

"Well, you did great," Qrow responded without thinking.

"Thank you," Winter said, blushing slightly and glancing away from his face. They avoided each other's eyes for a while, after that, and danced in silence. Perhaps too soon, the song ended.

"I... have to go," Winter said as Qrow let go of her waist. His hand remained clasped in hers, but it slowly slid out as she turned and walked away. Qrow didn't move the entire time, his hand remaining where it had been. He let it fall to his side after a moment and looked around. "What are you teenagers staring at? Go make bad choices!" Then he walked off to the wall of the room and pulled out a flask.

"It's my first drink today, Rae, so calm the hell down," he grunted as he unscrewed the top. His sister's form seemed to melt out of the shadows beside him, her face showing how intrigued she was by her brother's behavior. "I'm honestly not in the mood right now."

"I can see that," she said, taking the flask from him before he could take a drink and taking a sip herself. She handed it back. "Do you need liquid courage to do what your feet want you to do?"

"And what does that mean?" Qrow asked, stopping before he could take a drink. He closed his flask distrustfully.

"Your feet. Unlike your face, they're pointed at the door," Raven explained. Qrow raised an eyebrow but looked down regardless. She was right. His feet were both angled slightly at the exit.

He looked back up at her after making a show of moving his feet to a normal position. "Yeah, of course they are. I want to leave. This place smells like teen spirit and nobody's spiked the punch yet," Qrow growled. He looked over at the punch, then decided against it and returned his flask to his pocket. He began to rub the bridge of his nose. "So whatever it is you're insinuating, could you stop?"

"I could," Raven acquiesced with a shrug. Her smile became venomous. "But I won't. I haven't seen you this off kilter since we met Summer in school. So... do you have a thing for women with seasonal names? Cause I know this girl named Autumn -"

"Shut up," Qrow growled, whirling on his sister and slamming his left hand into the wall. There was a dull thud disguised by the music. Raven just continued smiling at her brother like he was an idiot. "Don't. Just don't. Ice Queen is..." Qrow just shrugged, his usual line of insults for the regimented, albeit graceful warrior somehow having dried up. "I think the nickname explains it well enough."

"Hm. Coming from 'Drunkard' that doesn't mean much," Raven pointed out. She shrugged. "Still, she obviously didn't put much effort into a derogatory name."

"She's an Atlesian Specialist," Qrow said, more to himself than his sister.

Raven shrugged. "Well, you still have her glove in your right hand," Raven said, pointing at the white fabric dangling from the Huntsman's hand by his side. Qrow looked down in surprise. Raven laughed. "You are adorably clueless, Little Brother. Regardless of her occupation, or whether she is or isn't interested in a drunk cynic, you didn't get any answers from her. And _now_ you have an excuse to follow her."

Qrow looked between the glove and his sister. "This doesn't mean I have a thing for her," Qrow growled as he ran past his sister and out of the dance after the white haired Atlesian Specialist.

Raven just watched him go, smirking at his back the entire time. "No... Of course not," she remarked, sarcasm almost physically rolling from her voice. "You were always a bad liar compared to me, Little Brother. Which, I guess, doesn't say much. But still... Good luck, Qrow." With that, she produced out the flask she'd stolen from her brother's pocket and began grinning evilly at the punch.

"Don't even think about it," Glynda growled, having caught sight of Raven's gaze from the other side of the room and appearing in front of the punch with a glare of pure, rules-loving malice. "Or else, Mrs. Xiao Long."

"I was... kidding, Glyn! Just..." Raven went quiet as Glynda's gaze slowly cowed her. Finally, Raven could only manage to squeak out, "Sorry, Ms. Goodwitch."

 ** _R W B Y_**

Sora smiled at the next group of four to approach him – a dark skinned girl with white-yellow hair, a pair of serious boys who had pink or black hair, and a shorter girl with wild, green locks. Ever since his dance with Ruby, she and the others had been pulled into conversations with people they'd known from school or from the Vytal Festival. The boy Ruby fought one on one had pulled her away to talk to her; it sounded like congratulations. Sora had been happy to talk and meet new people at the dance, especially as most of them were wondering how he and Ruby had done whatever it was that they'd done to the Sea Serpent. A few of the people so far had made passes at him even he could recognize, though, and that number was steadily climbing. So far, the four he was with seemed more interested in the Keyblade. "Yeah, I can show you guys," Sora said, raising his hand in front of him when their leader – the dark skinned girl – asked. A half second later, nearly the entire group of Huntsmen jumped backwards in surprise as the large, gold and silver Key appeared in Sora's hand.

"So, what is it?" the green haired girl asked. She was leaning against a skateboard, and had somehow snuck into the dance wearing her normal clothes, a hoodie and boots. "Besides one of the weirdest looking swords ever?"

Sora laughed. "I've seen weirder," he said, thinking of the unwieldy weapons his friends from Radiant Garden had used. Leon and Cloud alone had swords taller than either of them. And Clouds was dull, rusty, and covered in bandages from lack of care. And Oragnization XIII? Sora wouldn't have thought a deck of cards and a thing of dice to be useful. Granted, they weren't very useful... "Lots weirder."

"But how did it kill the Dragon?" their leader asked. She was wearing a red and gold, loose dress.

Sora smiled. "Magic?" he supplied honestly.

The team of Huntsmen were quiet for some time, having gotten the same true answer Sora had given everyone else so far. Eventually, they all began to laugh, leaning against on another as Sora just stared on dryly. So far, everyone else had given him the same response when he said 'magic.' He looked past them after a moment and saw a familiar blonde mop walking upstairs and onto a balcony. Sora frowned and returned his attention to the laughing group of four in front of him. "I've got to go talk to someone," Sora said, waving goodbye. They didn't notice even as he walked around them and followed Jaune outside.

The Knight was leaning against the railing, staring out at the stars. Sora just leaned against the wall, knowing that the warrior already knew that he was there. Sora knew Jaune would talk when he was ready; the Keyblade Wielder was just there if he needed to talk.

Sora looked up at the sky as well, tracing the unfamiliar patters of stars in the sky. He realized with a start that he hadn't thought about his old friends in days. Hadn't even considered where they were or what they were doing. He suddenly began to wonder, then. All his Summoning Charms had fallen apart or disappeared in the Darkness of the Lanes Between and the subsequent fall to Remnant's surface. If they hadn't, maybe he could try to talk to Genie, and he could use his 'phenomenal, nearly cosmic powers' to tell everyone where Sora had landed.

They'd probably gone to Yen Sid or Merlin first, now that Sora thought about it, hoping they could find him using the wizards' magical sight. If they hadn't found him yet, that must have meant the two wizards couldn't see him with their powerful scrying. That, or Sora was further from his friends' worlds than he'd ever been before.

The Keyblade Wielder shrugged it off and looked back down. Jaune was looking up at the stars still, arms crossed as he leaned against the balcony rail. Eventually, he began to speak. "Sorry about making you worry, Sora. I'm just..." Jaune sighed and shrugged. The Knight turned around to stare at Sora with saddened eyes. "Did you know that the first time I really knew that I cared about Pyrrha was at a dance just like this one?"

Sora shook his head. "You don't talk about your memories of her too often," Sora said, trying to be there for his friend. "At least, nothing specific."

Jaune nodded, mouth pursed. "I guess I haven't. Sorry, it just... never comes up," the Knight replied. He laughed dryly. "Probably because you guys all avoid the topic, right?"

Sora shrugged in affirmation. "Thanks for that," Jaune said, turning around to stare up at the sky again. He laughed again, trying to stave off his mood. "I hate acting like this. I feel weak, like I can't do anything when I think about Pyrrha."

Jaune turned around quickly. "Not that I don't like thinking about her," he assured the Keyblade Wielder, already knowing how Sora's face was growing worried at that idea. "She's still... Light."

Sora nodded as Jaune explained. "I get it. I had a friend named Leon... he felt the same way about someone he loved," Sora explained, walking over to stand beside Jaune. The Keyblade Wielder placed his hands on the railing and looked out into the sky again, remembering his meetings with the Gunblade swordsman. Sora looked over at Jaune, only his eyes moving. "And I felt the same once. It's fuzzy, and I don't always... remember. But I have a Nobody – he was made from _me_ , once. I still remember how he felt when he watched his closest friend disappear, die in his arms, and fade from almost everyone else's memory. The ache is dull now, but I know it was a void. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I get loving memories of someone but hating how remembering them feels."

"That's pretty much it," Jaune said hollowly. He sighed and placed one hand against the railing. After a moment he looked out over the city, tears welling up in his eyes. To his credit, they didn't fall. "I _don't_ want to forget her... ever. In fact, I'd do anything to get her back."

Sora frowned, but didn't let his friend see. Sora was worried he'd put a dangerous idea into the young Knight's head during their Dive to his Heart. Sure, everyone he'd ever met had left a mark on his Heart, and that mark would never go away. They'd always be with him. And, true, people who were lost or taken in by someone else's Heart could be guided back by that connection, like Roxas and Ven and Xion and Terra and Isa had been. But... But if someone was killed, if they had no body to go back to, they couldn't just come back. Pyrrha wouldn't come back to life.

Still, Sora was sure Jaune knew that. "I know, Buddy," he said, placing his hand on Jaune's shoulder sympathetically. "I know."

 ** _R W B Y_**

Winter Schnee was very fast when it came to changing her clothes, a habit that was pounded into her head over the course of both her Huntress training and her subsequent military training. Something else those two intensive training programs taught her? How to easily spot and lose a tail. Especially ones who could be smelled from a half mile away. Unfortunately for her, Qrow Branwen had not had a drink in almost three days, and his Aura had helped flush out all of the alcohol remaining in his system long ago. In short? Qrow Branwen was waiting for her in front of her ship just as she planned to leave. She stopped about ten paces from him, staring at the Huntsman with a questioning glare. "Ice Queen," he said, juggling the decapitated skulls of the Atlesian Knight droids in time with the music drifting from the dance. He smiled at her as the three heads flew into the air again then landed, stacked one atop the other, in his left hand. "Impressed?"

The Specialist narrowed her eyes and quickly drew her blade, sending a swarm of tiny, icy Nevermores crashing into the stack and sending it flying. "Why are you here, destroying property of the Atlesian military yet again, Qrow?"

"We're using first names now?" Qrow asked. He swooned sarcastically. "Oh, Winter!"

"I see. To annoy me, then," Winter noted. She shook her head and sheathed her blade slowly. Then she began to walk, placing her hand on Qrow's shoulder to shove him out of the way as she reached him. "If you'll excuse me, I am likely already late for actual conversations that I need to have."

Winter stopped when she felt an unbending arm lance out in her path. "You forgot this, Winter," Qrow mumbled quietly, not looking over at her. She growled, but looked down at his hand. Her eyes widened when she saw one of her gloves.

"Did you steal that from my bags!?" she snapped, reaching to draw her weapon again. Qrow did not flinch as the metal edge kissed his throat. "You damnable dru-"

"You forgot it, Ice Queen. Slid right off your hand after our dance," the red eyed man interjected calmly, looking over at her finally. Gone was his usual smirk, his infuriating stubbornness. Winter also realized with a start that so too was the smell gone. All of it was replaced with... what looked like a level of respect for her.

Schnee sheathed her weapon once more and snatched her glove out of Qrow's hand. He stared at her for a while, as if he was awaiting something. When it didn't come, Qrow merely shrugged and pocketed his hands. "See you around, Ice Queen." Qrow began to walk away.

"Wait," she said after a short pause. Her hand snapped out, grabbing hold of the tattered edge of Qrow's cape. He cried as his momentum suddenly disappeared and he nearly fell backwards. He gained his footing again after a half second and turned around. Winter was staring at him, her blue eyes fixed on the pools of red in Qrow's skull. She sighed. "Blue Fairy."

"Excuse me?" Qrow asked, crossing his arms. He raised one eyebrow, looking for an explanation.

"Blue Fairy. That's why I defended you as well as the boy, Qrow," Winter said simply, her hands rubbing together nervously in front of her.

The Huntsman laughed and shook his head, earning a more wintry look from the Specialist. "Now you've lost me, Ice Queen," he said as he calmed down. He gave the woman a quizzical glare. "You defended me after I revealed Atlesian military and state secrets to the world? Well, this will be the first time I've ever said an Atlesian Specialist surprised me. Why?"

Winter made a noise halfway between a growl of annoyance she usually saved for her dealings with Qrow and a sigh of disappointment... again usually reserved for Qrow. "I had been of the belief," she began, her cheeks reddening in a blush, "that General Ironwood and his predecessor had shut down that specific research group years ago. Blue Fairy's crimes during the Great War up until your ac– _your team's_ actions over twenty years ago in the defense of Remnant's peace... were true atrocities, from all the reports I've read."

"Almost. Only thing you got wrong is that it wasn't Stonewall who shut down Fairy. It was Team STRQ who put them down twenty some years ago," Qrow explained, smirking proudly. The expression was soon replaced with an apologetic frown. "And I'm actually sorry to shatter your hopes, Winter, but they came back online just six years after we beat them."

"Yes, I know. Now. When I called the general, he tried to blow me off, but admitted that much," Winter said, clasping her hands behind her. "When we later spoke, he said Ozpin had tried to convince him to shut it down again."

"Ah, don't blame Jimmy for this one," Qrow said, catching the betrayed look in Winter's eyes. The Huntsman put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "The Atlesian Council is the group of idiots responsible for this massive screw up. Jimmy's hands are tied."

"So is this why you consider us 'Sellouts?'" Winter asked Qrow after a short pause. The music filled the subsequent silence, as much an answer as if Qrow had just said it aloud. "Dumb question with an obvious answer..."

"Well, then I guess we're even," Qrow said. He smiled down at Winter, who was glaring at the ground, then moved his hand out to softly lift her face until their eyes met. "Come on, Winter; moody doesn't fit you nearly as well as it fits me. Where's the haughty princess I love to hate, huh?"

Winter glared in annoyance at the Huntsman and slapped his hand away. "There we go!" Qrow said, patting her shoulder. "Good as new."

"We are nowhere near even, Qrow," the Atlesian Specialist snarled. She sighed and let her hand fall to his chest; Qrow hoped she couldn't feel the heartbeat that was pounding in his ears. "But I will try to find a way to repay this debt."

"You aren't nearly as bad as you seem, Winter," Qrow said, not merely being polite to the woman when he said it. He took a step back and offered his hand, a slow song starting up in the background.

"Somehow, Qrow, neither are you," Winter agreed, her voice containing the same inflection as Qrow's. She quickly took his hand and pulled him close. Qrow held in a laugh. "But this time, I lead, Drunkard."

"Is that a challenge, Ice Queen?"

 ** _R W B Y_**

"What is it with you guys and staring up at the sky tonight?" Sora asked as he pulled himself up and onto the roof. He perched himself up, hanging by his elbows and resting his head on his forearms. Ruby turned her head towards him from where she was laying down and smiled in greeting. She moved one arm from beneath her head and patted on the roof beside her. Sora smiled back and pulled himself up. He walked over and, after a second, was laying beside the young Huntress and staring at the sky as well. "See anything good yet?"

"No shooting stars that are actually really funny aliens," Ruby joked. She looked over at Sora and smiled. "Otherwise, not much. Just wondering what it's like out there."

Sora nodded and returned his attention to the sky. "Well, there's a ton of 'em, and all the worlds I've been to are different. Some are a lot like here. Some are... really different."

"Tell me about a different one, then," Ruby supplied, also staring up at the stars. "The most different one you can think of."

Sora laughed. "Off the top of my head? Halloween Town, then."

Ruby looked over at him, eyebrows raised. "Halloween Town? Like the holiday?"

"Yep," Sora said, smiling at the stars that were sparkling in his eyes. "Everyone who lives there is a monster, but not in the way that the Grimm are. My best friend from that world is a walking, talking skeleton who is the town's Pumpkin King. His name is Jack Skellington, and he has this awesome ghost dog named Zero who has a glowing red nose. They play fetch with one of Jack's ribs all over their world. It all looks like a cemetery there, with gravestones and gargoyles everywhere, even the homes. Jack has this huge, awesome mansion that looks like it's haunted. And it is! All the ghosts are his friends. His neighbor is this crazy scientist who can unlatch his head and play with his own brain. Jack and the scientist's daughter are quite the power couple over there."

"Sounds like a crazy place," Ruby said, turning and smiling at Sora.

He looked over and grinned. "That's not even half of it! Halloween Town is connected to all these other places on its world. Christmas Town is my favorite!"

"Wait! Christmas Town?" Ruby asked, shooting up. She looked incredibly excited. "Does... Does _he_ live there?"

Sora frowned, confused for a moment. Then: "Oh! Santa! Yep. He's great. Doesn't really like Jack much, though." Sora trailed off and laughed nervously.

"Why?"

Sora laughed nervously again. "Apparently, Jack had a really bad idea once. He's always been Pumpkin King, living Halloween every day. So he decided one year to try and pull of Christmas instead."

Ruby grimaced. "That sounds..."

"I wasn't there, but Santa gets significantly less jolly when you bring it up," the Keyblade Wielder explained with a grimace as Ruby laid down again. Sora shivered. "And Jack doesn't always get what is jolly and what is terrifying. He tried to give me a magical, talking, severed head as a Christmas gift once, and said it was what he gave all the best boys and girls when he tried to play Santa."

Ruby shivered. "That is disturbing," Ruby muttered.

"I don't think it was a _real_ head, though," Sora muttered as an excuse. He grimaced. "At least, I hope so."

"And... Jack is your friend from there?" Ruby asked, still perturbed by the Skellington's idea of a Christmas present.

"Ah, he means well," Sora explained with a laugh. "And he did his best to protect everyone from this guy named Oogie Boogie. _That_ guy was bad. He tried to kill Jack and everyone else with the Heartless, and then he tried to kill Santa! He was this big green guy made out of bugs and... I want to say socks. Dirty socks, I think. But that guy's gone now. The Darkness ate him up, and Halloween Town is safe now."

"It sounds a lot less scary than I thought it would. These monsters are just... people who look like monsters, aren't they?" Ruby said. "Same Hearts and Souls as us, just not human."

"Probably pretty close to that whole 'Alien' thing Jaune keeps bringing up," Sora said with a laugh.

Ruby laughed with him for a moment. "Thanks," she said after a while. She and Sora met eyes.

"I could... take you sometime," Sora supplied, blushing. He rolled back onto his back, fighting off the burning in his cheeks. "And then I could bring you right back here. Once we have a Gummi ship."

"I'd like that," Ruby said. She leaned over and Sora froze as she delivered a quick kiss to his cheek. His blush turned bright red and he felt his heart pounding in his ears.

"Um..." Sora just mumbled, brain frozen. "Um... I... Um..."

Ruby giggled and looked back up at the stars, excited by the prospect of finding all new people to help. "Well, we better get back to the dance, huh?"

"Um... I... Um..."


	17. Reopened Wounds

**AN: Hey, everybody! I liked the last chapter, too. Especially the Qrow and Winter parts, given my huge love for that specific pairing. It will also be, unfortunately, the last chapter for a short while where the happy outweighs the sad by such a wide margin. At least for a little while. Things are soon to get worse for the heroes of this story.**

 **Now, for question responses!**

 **To Keyslinger Roxas: I certainly agree it would be a good idea, and I believe Yen Sid would be able to set up such a alternate pocket of time if it became absolutely necessary. However, in this story at least, I don't think that Sora is quite so accomplished with Magic just yet, given it would be like an inverse Stopza. And, as we'll see next chapter, Xehanort is in the waiting portion of his plans. His loss to Sora has him less collected than he usually is.**

 **To sethman610: Yes, I definitely have plans for Penny. It's my opinion that Ruby, unlike Jaune, would be quick to acknowledge it would do little good to fixate on the death of the people she loved. She is a woman of action, as we've seen, and she has accepted what can't be changed. But Penny's fate probably can be altered.**

 _ **Chapter 17: Reopened Wounds**_

Sora and Ruby sat beside one another on top of some boxes in the cargo hold of their floating transportation, hands touching. With them in the floating ship – a smaller training center that could be manned by a skeleton crew and which Qrow had said cost him more favors than he'd care to admit – which had already begun its journey to Vacuo, were Ren and Nora, the Berserker nearly strangling her partner in a bear hug at the moment; Jaune, standing between the two duos playing video games on his Scroll; Qrow, who was leaning against the door of a broom closet and staring silently at the ground; and, finally, Raven Branwen herself standing beside her brother across from the semi circle of children.

The accomplished Huntress looked... well, neither Sora nor Ruby could quite place it. But she had been standing there silently for about half an hour trying to gather the courage to talk about whatever it was she and Qrow thought they needed to tell the younger warriors. Qrow meanwhile looked like he could tell them basically anything without flinching, but he decided to wait for his sister to try and ready herself for the moment. Another few minutes passed by, accompanied only by the noise of lasers from Jaune's game – LaserTeam 3: The Re-Lasering Part 2: The Re-Teaming.

Finally, the somber woman made her choice to begin speaking. "Put that damn thing down, Blondie," she began suddenly. Jaune froze and looked up at her. His hands slowly drifted shut, closing the Scroll; he placed it back into his pocket, Raven's eyes never leaving his hands. When the Scroll was finally put away, Raven frowned for a moment before beginning in earnest. Or not. "And you two lovebirds – stop with the hugging." Nora slowly let go of the nearly unconscious Ren. Sora and Ruby glanced at each other for a moment, wondering if they'd get the same death glare from Yang's mom as the others had, before looking back at Raven. "I need all of you to listen to me, kiddos. What you guys are about to hear is not to be repeated. Ever. Under _any_ circumstances... Nora." The Berserker looked around before pointing at herself. "Yes, you. Loudmouth. It's dangerous for people to know this, all of it, so we're not telling you this lightly. It's because we have to... Qrow, start us off."

The Huntsman looked over at his twin sister for a moment then nodded. His gaze returned to drift over the children, eyes locking on Ruby especially. "So... I guess we'll start with the biggest thing that I know. You know how they say Ozpin is dead as a doornail?" He shoved off from the wall, his movements increasingly smooth as he continued to limit his once terrifyingly large alcohol intake. "That's not quite true."

Ruby jumped forward, rose petals flying from her shoulders suddenly. "Headmaster Ozpin is alive? Then why isn't he here, why isn't he helping? If anyone could have stopped all this, it's him! He's the strongest Huntsman in the world!"

"Thanks, kiddo," Qrow said dryly. He shook his head after a moment and gestured at his sister. "I think this is more in your wheelhouse, Rae."

The Huntress nodded solemnly. "Yeah," she responded quietly. "He's been spying on Salem, trying to find out what exactly the enemy's plans are. Other than that, he hasn't been too... open with what he's doing besides starving and being tortured."

"So who _is_ Salem?" Jaune asked, sitting down on another box of stuff. He looked around at the other kids. "Why are they working for Xehanort?"

Raven shrugged and grunted in annoyance. "Pin has this bad habit of not telling anyone anything. Especially not the people he trusts," the woman explained as she crossed her arms. "Salem's a woman, pale and about as scary as Xehanort. Beyond that, I can only share what I've heard her say when she's taunting Pin, but that could be lies." She went silent and her gaze drifted to the ground. She shivered. "I hope it's lies." Her eyes moved up to lock on Ruby and Raven frowned.

Sora stared worriedly at the older woman. She didn't seem the kind to scare easy. "Are you okay?" the Keyblade Wielder asked. Raven tore her gaze from Ruby and shook her head. "What is it you've heard her say?"

"Salem is terrifying, okay? She doesn't just want to destroy the Huntsmen or the Kingdoms. She's not an ideological terrorist fighting for her own twisted view of things," Raven began explaining, her explanation even catching Qrow's attention. Raven searched for words as fear gripped her Heart and her hands moved uselessly in front of her. Finally: "She wants death. That's it. For everyone in the world. Ozpin is putting a lot of faith into all of you." She looked between Sora and Ruby, gesturing at them both. "Especially you two."

"Me? How does he know about me?" the young man asked, one eyebrow raised to convey his confusion. He began to stammer. "I mean, I've never even met him!"

"Well, this is as good a place as any to start part two of what Oz has been hiding," Qrow cut in before his sister could continue. He sighed and placed his hands in his pockets. "So, the story of the Four Maidens. You know it, right?"

"Sora wouldn't," Nora supplied in a sing song.

Qrow grunted at the young woman. "Hm... that's a good point. Fine, Keyboy, you get the abridged version," Qrow told Sora. Qrow frowned and wondered how to begin for a moment. "Well, can't beat the classics I guess. Once upon a time in a land not as far away as you'd think, there was a man who had lived alone in his hut for centuries. This man was a powerful wizard, who wielded magic even more powerful than that of our two friends over here." His eyes fell on Sora and Ruby. "The man's abilities far exceeded the uses of mere Dust. They -"

"So much for the 'abridged' version," Raven muttered dryly as her brother began to weave a tale.

"Fine, _slightly_ abridged then," Qrow spat at his sister. "I'll speed things up. Now, where was I?" Qrow rubbed his chin for a moment. "Right! So, the Wizard had grown angry and bitter over his many, many years of guarding Remnant's most terrible secrets. He let the world he had once desired to protect fall apart.

"On one winter's day, he saw a young woman outside of his home. She looked like the snow that surrounded her, purest white and cool, as she sat beneath the tree near his home. The wizard asked who this woman was. She claimed to be a woman named Winter who was on a dangerous mission and was waiting for her sisters. She continued to meditate beneath the tree, and her natural calm infected the Wizard. He soon found himself deep in meditation, too.

"Later, likely after many nights staring at his whiskey before meditating with the woman outside of his home, it was spring. A second girl appeared, this one vibrant and youthful. Spring, who was on a dangerous mission and waiting for her sisters. Upon seeing the Wizard's home, destroyed by his own neglect and age, she immediately – and despite the man's many protests – set about repairing it. She planted new seeds, began to till the soil for food. The Wizard could only watch her ignore his protests and bring new life to the world he had begun to resent.

"Then -"

"Let me guess! Let me guess!" Nora screamed, causing Qrow to look over at her with a cross between annoyance and murder in his eyes. "Summer, on a mission, waiting for her sisters!"

Qrow ground his teeth together, angry at being interrupted. Sora laughed quietly; he'd never have pegged Qrow as the type to love telling a story. " _Yes._ Good job," Qrow said, his words in stark contrast to his tone. "Anyways... She spent the following months teasing the Wizard for his seclusion from the world, laughing at his stubborn, asinine desire to hide himself off in his hut when there was an entire world outside to see with new adventures to find. Wiz found his once heavy Heart could not argue with her, and he began to interact with the three girls daily.

"Then – and if anyone interrupts me, I will begin using my scythe," he looked over slowly at Nora whose mouth was wide open with the words 'Fall, mission, sisters' on the tip of her tongue. She laughed sheepishly and sat down next to Ren, who was shaking his head to hide his laughter. " _THEN!_ Then came a day when he and the three young women completed the harvest and were setting a feast. Mountains of fruit and vegetables, meats cooked to perfection – you know, made in a crockpot with some whiskey and... never mind – the feast had everything." He pointed at Nora.

The Berserker shrieked in excitement. "'My name is Autumn -"

"Fall" Qrow interjected, though it didn't stop Nora from talking.

"- and I am on a mission. I am here to meet my sisters!' YAY!"

"Then she asked who he was. Oz said these next words every time he told the story, like they were the official canon. 'Me? Well, I am but an old hermit – I have lived in these woods alone for centuries and I'm afraid my story is not very interesting, as I have no one to love and nothing to my name.'

"The fourth sister replied by pointing out the feast, his home reborn, and the three women sitting with him. She said that he should recognize the beauty that was present in his life, as some were not lucky enough even to have any at all.

"The Wizard looked upon everything around him, the women who had brought hope back into his Heart, the world that suddenly seemed so bright despite the Darkness he had fought to destroy for so long. All he could wonder was why. Why help a grumpy man who had lost all hope and love for the world? That confused the girls. They responded by saying that it was not because he was special that they had done anything for him, merely that he had needed help. They would do the same for anyone. He asked what reward they desired. They earnestly told the Wizard that they wanted nothing in return, no gift for doing the right thing.

"But he didn't care. They deserved it. So he gathered all the power within his form and released it. The power was bestowed upon the four sisters so that they could do as they had said and help anyone that needed help."

"What does an old story have to do with the Headmaster?" Ren inquired calmly.

Qrow nodded. "Good question. About the seventh time Oz told me that story – after a shit ton of drinks, and that guy could drink me under the table, mind you – he added something else to the end. 'Qrow,' he said, eyes tearing up. 'Qrow, those four young women, they had the smallest, most honest souls I had ever encountered on Remnant until that moment. They desired only to see the world become something... more. I gave everything I had to them because I saw the future that could be if I started to care once again, and it was bright. They had the rare, beautiful ability to create hope; for the first time in more than three hundred years, I thought the evils I had tried to hold back for so long could be defeated, if not by them then by those that followed in their footsteps. I still believe that their Hearts will be what saves Remnant from what is coming.'"

The room was quiet, not one of the children sure what to do as they processed Qrow's story. Even Sora seemed at a loss when he considered what the Huntsman had just said. A man who had lived for centuries? That seemed like a lot to swallow. Could he have seen the Keyblade War... or maybe even taken part in it? Either way, neither Qrow nor Raven were the kind to keep a prank going for that long without laughing. And since no 'Gotcha!' came around, the five kids knew they had to accept what had just been said.

Ruby opened her mouth tentatively. No sound escaped her lips for a moment as she considered what came next. Finally, she began with an incredibly confused and unsure, "Professor Ozpin is... an immortal wizard?"

"I don't know how, and I'm not even sure he knew either, but he doesn't age," Raven cut in, eyeing her brother angrily for what she deemed a far too wordy explanation. "The statue doesn't just look like him, it _is_ him. He founded Beacon, organized the Vytal Treaty, and did more for this world than anyone else has ever done since. Never asked for thanks, just help."

"His power? What happened to it when the... 'Maidens' died?" Ren asked after another moment of silence. He frowned as he stared at Raven and Qrow; his voice was shaking on every fourth word. "Energy does not merely disappear. Did it return to the Headmaster, then?"

"No. It moved down the line, always to a young woman who fit the profile for each of the women. Winter is always quiet and calculating. Spring, bouncy and excited. Summer, a thrill seeker. And Fall, one who sees what others will not," Raven explained. She shrugged and moved her hands up and down; as one went up, the other retreated back down. "Pin always had a weird way of knowing when and where the power would move, though. Like it still had a link with him. Except the last time."

"That's what you were doing with Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, breaking his silence with an angry growl. The others looked over to see his angry glare locked with Qrow's blank eyes. "Trying to make her a weapon?"

"A hero," Qrow countered.

Jaune shook his head. "She... Cinder took it. That's what happened to her when she killed that woman in the Aura Transfer machine. She took one of those abilities!" Jaune snapped, putting the puzzle together before any of his friends. "Why didn't he tell anyone, why didn't he stop the attacks!?"

Qrow remained silent for a while, taking in Jaune's rage. Sora and Ruby both recognized the look in the man's eyes; he not only thought he deserved this anger, but he recognized it like an old friend as well. Eventually, though, he knew he couldn't let it continue. "Because, as I told your girlfriend, that used to be what we did. Started a war that almost killed everyone eighty years ago. Better a secret guarded by those who can keep it than a truth anyone can find."

"It didn't stop them from finding it, though!" Jaune protested. Again, Qrow didn't argue with that. Despite their caution and painstaking attempts to hide the Maidens, the Fall Maiden had gone dark. And without Oz, Qrow was less and less sure what was going on with the other three. Summer had been in Vacuo three months earlier, but that intel had grown unreliable. He knew Spring was still hiding out on Menagerie, the _real_ reason Grimm avoided the place like the plague. And Winter was somewhere in Atlas' borders. Seemed like the enemy knew more than he did, sometimes. "And you were so overconfident, it ended up killing Pyrrha and destroying an entire kingdom!"

"Jaune," Ren muttered, standing up and placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "That's not fair, they tried."

"And it wasn't good enough," Qrow admitted blankly. He nodded and sighed. "Go on, Blondie. Let it all out, I can take it. I dished it out myself when Su – when it happened to me. But give it a while and you'll see that we did the right thing, regardless of what you want to think right now."

Sora shook his head in disagreement with Qrow. "I think you should have trusted everyone," he said. He'd brought the same opinion to King Mickey and Yen Sid more than a few times when talking about the Keyblade and existence of other worlds, and he had earned the exact same angry and surprised stares he was getting from Raven and Qrow right then. Ruby even was looking at him with a disapproving glare; she trusted her uncle no matter what. "Your Hearts were in the right place, but you need to trust people. They'll surprise you."

Ruby frowned, torn between her loyalty to her uncle and her belief that what Sora had said was indeed true. She wasn't angry when secrets were kept from her – such as the survival of Yang's mom, or Ozpin, or where Sora had come from – more just hurt people thought she couldn't be trusted. "I wish that were true, Keyboy," Qrow muttered dryly, his voice full of experience that told him the young man was wrong.

"Well, if that's the case, why even tell us?" Jaune snapped, though less sharp than before.

"Ozpin always had his eyes on a couple teams in every generation. Ours was one. Teams RWBY and JNPR were others," Raven explained. She laughed dryly. "It was already only a matter of time before you learned all this stuff, then you started chasing answers, too? You've helped us more in six months than we've helped in twenty years. Pin thinks you can stop everything that's coming."

"Speak for yourself," Qrow remarked indignantly. "You may have been acting lazy, but I've helped plenty, Rae."

"Did they just say Ruby, Sora, and those guys are the chosen ones?"

The entire room froze as a second voice began to drift out of the closet behind Raven and Qrow. "How would I know? You haven't moved your big head from the door since we got in here!" Their disagreements forgotten, the younger warriors and the older ones exchanged looks before looking at the door again. "Dammit! Don't step on my tail!"

Qrow and Raven looked at one another for a moment before raising their right hands slowly. Each brought their fist down three times before making a change – Qrow let two fingers out while Raven let her hand open completely. Qrow laughed victoriously and took a step back, motioning grandiosely for his sister to open the door. She glared at him venomously, then reached back to her belt quickly and slashed through the door. There was a slight groan for a moment as her weapon returned to its sheathe; as the hilt clicked into place, the door fell apart to reveal a blue haired human and a golden haired Faunus stuck in the middle of a very unimpressive fight.

"Oh... hey guys! Long time no see!" Sun shouted as he let go for Neptune's face. "How've you been?"

Sora grinned nervously as Qrow's eyes moved slowly and almost instinctively towards him. "So... I may have helped some friends sneak aboard..." the Keyblade Wielder muttered, embarrassed and kind of scared by Qrow's face. "Oops..."

"I'm... I don't even know," Qrow began, his fists shivering with rage. "I'm going to fu-"

"Qrow!" Raven snapped, punching her brother in the shoulder. She glared at him until he sighed and shrugged, then she grabbed Sun and Neptune in either hand before tossing them at Sora's feet. "What my idiot brother means to say is this: What the fuck!?"

"So you can curse in front of children?" Qrow muttered dryly.

"Shut up," Raven growled, cowing her brother. To Sora: "Why are these two here?"

"Sun wanted to visit home," Neptune explained. He paused for a moment then jabbed his Faunus friend in the ribs as they stood up. "And he figured you could take him to look for his _Kitten_."

Sun blushed and smacked his brother in arms upside the head. "And the blue idiot here wants to try and find his 'Snow Angel' in Atlas," Sun remarked. This time it was Neptune's turn to blush a deep red. "Besides, this way he doesn't even have to _see_ the ocean when we fly to Vacuo. And Atlas. And, sure, I mean, I wouldn't mind going to Vale..."

Qrow stared at the two Haven students for a moment then sighed. "Well, I don't really feel like turning this hunk around even for the hour it would take to drop you two idiots off," he muttered. Everyone in the room let loose a breath of relief they hadn't known they'd been holding in. Then they immediately brought it back in as Qrow growled and raised one finger at the kids. "But you pull any kind of shit and I'll personally make sure you never meet my niece's friends ever again. Because you -" he pointed at Neptune "- will be swimming to Atlas, and you -" he pointed at Sun now "- will be floating beside him in a locked box."

Neptune and Sun glanced nervously at each other and gulped in synchronization. "O-okay, Ruby's very terrifying uncle," Sun said quietly.

Qrow glared at them for a while, then smiled softly. "Good. Got that out of the way," he muttered. "What's next, Rae?"

"Just something that pertains mostly to you, Qrow. It's up to you what you do with it," Raven said quietly, her eyes sad. "Let's... let's go speak alone."

Qrow frowned. His sister never acted like that. "Fine," he said with a shrug. He looked over at the kids. "Sora has a surprise for you guys up in the combat center; take your weapons but wait 'til I'm there to start."

"Wait," Ruby called, stopping them as they turned around. "Why not just portal us there?"

"Oz says you aren't ready," Raven explained after a momentary pause. She shook her head. "He wouldn't even want you going there in a month's time."

"So what caused your opinion to differ from his?" Ren asked, interested that anyone would disagree with Ozpin, the wisest warrior on all of Remnant.

Raven slowly raised her hand and pointed at Sora. "Keyboy over there did something I was sure was impossible when Oz said I shouldn't bring you guys to him. He destroyed Xehanort. Made the old guy look like a kid playing with a stick. If he could do that to Xehanort... maybe you guys can end all this now. Still, Pin would want you all as prepared as possible. It's cost him once already." With that, the Huntsman and his sister walked out of the room, leaving the stunned young warriors to their own thoughts on the coming war.

As they walked side by side, Raven was quiet. Qrow decided to follow her lead; she'd say what she wanted when she wanted to say it. "I'm glad you enjoyed your time with... 'Ice Queen,' Little Brother."

"By five minutes," Qrow muttered quietly, mostly out of habit. He looked over at his sister while they continued to walk. "And... thanks. I learned enough that it was a useful trip."

There was an extended pause as they walked. Raven seemed uncomfortable. "Qrow, she looks a lot like Summer," Raven said quickly while casting her eyes at the ground.

"Yeah, she does," Qrow agreed, thinking of Ruby. He laughed. "Good kid, too."

"Not Ruby," Raven clarified. She grabbed her brother by the shoulder and turned him towards her with sad eyes. "Not... Not Ruby, Qrow. Not Ruby."

"Then who?" the Huntsman asked, red eyes growing afraid as the moments ticked on. Raven remained wearily silent. "God dammit, Rae, who looks like Summer!?"

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Uncle Qrow, where's... I guess, um... _Aunt_ Raven?" Ruby asked, at a loss for what she should call the swordswoman, given their convoluted family tree. She nodded after she said that, deciding that would be what she called Yang's mother.

"Hm?" Qrow asked, looking up at his niece. She and the others were gathered in the center of a small – compared to its larger brother – arena. His eyes were more red than usual, as if he had cried not too long ago. When he approached, Sora noted that Jaune inched away and traded his cheery smile for an angry glare. "Where's Rae..? Oh, she, uh... she has a couple things she needs to do. I'd call Firecracker when we get to Vacuo; she'll need to talk to you."

Ruby smiled as she understood what Qrow meant. "Okay," she said, happy for her sister.

"Now, you have something you want to start here, Sora?" Qrow asked as he wiped his eyes and forced a smirk onto his face. "Something difficult, right?"

Sora grinned and nodded. "So, I'm going to try to teach all of you how to use Light," he said suddenly. The room went quiet, mostly in awe. For Sun and Neptune, it was more in confusion, actually.

"Light?"

"Magic," Ren clarified curtly as he broke through his awe. He continued to stare at Sora. "Really? I am... You believe we are capable of such things?"

"Hey, you guys all risked your lives to fight Cinder and her goons when you knew about their Darkness. You guys even almost beat them!" Sora explained excitedly. He gestured around at each of them. "I think you guys could totally take them down the next time!" Sora smiled as their faces became more and more excited for what was coming. That excitement disappeared with the next thing Sora said. "And I think the best way to make someone find the one thing that sparks all their Light is to fight the deepest Darkness they can. And since I don't have any Heartless here for you to fight, I guess we'll have to just have you all be at your angriest... so bring it on.." Sora grimaced at his friends' wide eyed stares that begged him to say it was a joke. "Sorry."

"Ha!" Qrow shouted as the young Huntsmen began to draw their weapons.

"I said all of you," Sora said as he summoned his Keyblade. Qrow stopped laughing and looked over at Sora fearfully. The Keyblade Wielder was grinning evilly and the Kingdom Key was soon leveled at Qrow. "Well? Get on with it."

"Don't go easy on him," Qrow growled as he drew his weapon and extended it into greatsword form.

"Weren't you just laughing at us?" Sun inquired while flourishing his gunchuks.

"Cast iron box in the middle of the ocean," Qrow threatened again, causing the Faunus to gulp in fear.

"Hey! What are you guys waiting for?" Sora asked, a cocky grin appearing suddenly on his face while his friends – and Qrow – slowly formed a circle around him. "Waiting won't make me go any easier on you." He looked over at Ruby and shrugged sheepishly. "Any of you."

"Am I sensing a breakup after only one date?" Neptune asked, hoping to throw off the Keyblade Wielder even the slightest bit. Even if Sora was distracted at all it wouldn't do much good, but the Huntsman would take what he could get.

"Ha," Ruby remarked dryly, sweeping out with the base of her weapon at the blue haired warrior, causing him to tumble to his back. "Sorry, just thought you should get a head start getting angry."

"I feel like this isn't fair," Sun muttered a few minutes later as he – and indeed everyone who wasn't Sora – nursed the minor wounds that remained from their seven on one fight with Sora. The Keyblade Wielder had managed to easily dodge and block every single one of the Huntsmen's attacks – even the simultaneous ones – after turning his outfit to a bright blue and his Keyblade to a black and white one. His bullet like counter attacks had stung, even through Aura, and with them he had managed to incapacitate each of the group in twenty painful, unproductive minutes. Jaune, surprisingly, had lasted the longest, no doubt due to how often he already trained with Sora and understood the Keyblade Wielder's style of fighting. "I mean... Ruby, how many times have you already used this stuff?"

Ruby glanced in annoyance over at Sun while she rubbed a sore burn on her shoulder. Eventually though, she had to admit that the Faunus was right. "Well... it didn't help me today, did it?" she pointed out. Indeed, no one in their group had been successful in unleashing any kind of Light magic, despite Sora's admittedly vague statement that they should find their 'brightest Light' in their Heart. Again, though, Jaune had come the closest. Everyone swore that they had seen his shield glowing a few times when he deflected the attacks, but no one could be sure. Qrow, who was busy laying on the ground, panting tiredly, had claimed more ardently than any that it had happened. An effect of this was Jaune vehemently denying he got even remotely close, due to his newfound resentment for the Huntsman.

"I hate not being young anymore," Qrow muttered sullenly as old aches rumbled through his body. Whatever had been on his mind before had been quickly shoved from his thoughts when the pain and exhaustion had settled in.

"Finally admitting you're an old man?" Ruby mocked as she walked over to her uncle. She lowered an arm to help him up and winced when a dull flash of pain ran through her shoulder. Still, Qrow took her hand and was soon sitting up.

"Call me old again," he dared in retort.

"Old!" Nora shouted, causing Qrow's face to fall in disappointment. Jaune quickly followed suit with Nora, and soon everyone was calling him old. Save for Jaune, it was good natured joking and laughter. "Older than dirt!"

"I hate children." Qrow groaned and pushed himself to his feet. He swayed for a minute, his vision tunneling, then held his hands out to regain his balance. "M'okay," he muttered as his vision returned. He shook his head and threw out a big yawn. "I'm... taking a nap. Yeah, that sounds nice."

"Good riddance," Jaune growled.

"You need to stop that," Sora said as he walked up. Jaune turned and crossed his arms angrily at the Keyblade Wielder. "Qrow – he's a good guy."

"He killed Pyrrha," Jaune snarled, crossing his arms and glaring after Qrow for a while.

"Cinder killed Pyrrha!" Ruby protested, throwing her arms up. She ignored the burning in her shoulder as she did, fixated as she was on defending her uncle.

"He didn't stop her," Jaune retorted quietly, face falling to the ground. He looked around at all of his friends' disapproving faces, then threw his hand up and began to walk away in a huff. "Whatever. Call me back when we're ready to train again."

The others watched him go for a moment. Ren sighed and moved to follow. "I'll talk to him -"

"No," Sora interjected, placing his hand on the warrior's shoulder. Ren turned around in confusion and stared at Sora questioningly. Sora shrugged. "We've already done all we can for him when it comes to Pyrrha. He just learned she'd been picked to be a target for Xehanort's goons by people she trusted and looked up to; it doesn't matter if he's wrong about this, he's angry about it."

"But we can still try to help him," Nora protested, coming up beside Ren.

Sora nodded. "Yeah. You can try," Sora agreed. He shrugged a moment later. "But it won't do any good. Right now Jaune wants to be angry, so it's up to him to beat that. Give him a night or two, he'll get better."

"I thought he was over this," Ruby muttered sadly as she watched the blonde go.

"Over losing someone he loved? Sure," Neptune said dryly. He shot a sidelong look at Ruby. "How long was it before your dad started Hunting again after... Well, you know."

Ruby frowned and looked at the ground. Her mom's death and Raven's disappearance – assumed as a death – had broken her dad, so much so that he really only was able to work as a Huntsman's Teacher at Signal, and even then only part time as a replacement for Qrow during his gallivanting missions across the world for Ozpin. It had been almost twenty years before Ruby's father had even considered going on another mission at all, and even then it had been a far cry from a real one that involved hunting Grimm far from home or taking down a group of criminals.

She didn't quite understand sulking after something bad happened or someone died. Her father, Yang, and even Jaune allowed themselves to be pulled into the pit of sadness whenever these things were brought up. Ruby had lost people too, she had lost Pyrrha and Penny and even her own mother. "But why does he want to be sad?" Ruby inquired, understanding lost to her. "It doesn't help anything."

"But it is easy," Ren suggested, shaking his head at his best friend and closing the conversation. Eventually everyone milled about for a moment, tired and injured, but mostly focused on the possible fallout from what had just happened. Sora knew it would blow over soon. After all, Jaune had a strong Heart and wanted to protect his friends. He just... he just needed time.

"Let's go eat," Sora said, grabbing his friends by the shoulders and smiling. "We'll start up again tomorrow so you guys can have a night to rest. I won't take it as short as I did today." Everyone groaned in pain at that, leaving Sora to laugh as he walked along with them.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora lay awake in the room he had been assigned by Qrow, staring intently at the first page of the chapter in _The Key of Destiny_ that he had been stuck on for hours. Something about it just kept bugging him, so he would start the chapter over again and again with the intent of seeing more clearly what itched at his mind. Forty readings in and he still couldn't find what he was looking for, merely that it was surely what Xehanort wanted him to find.

" _Chapter Twenty-Six_

 _Though the Heart of All Worlds descended upon that mountainous crossroads of power hungry and lost Souls on the twilight hour of that day, the battle had already been raging for years. Light and Darkness had been growing closer and closer to that final conflict due to the strength of the most powerful of the Keyblade Masters. Some were the scions of the Light destined to defend it until death, and the others disciples of great Darkness that worshiped at the altar of chaos. Both sides led many warriors into that battle, be they wielders of the Keys or simple warriors who had lent their Hearts to the calling of either side, but only those greatest Masters truly mattered._

 _The resulting battle could only be described as... apocalyptic. The entire landscape had been transformed by the sheer force of the power being traded by the Keyblade Wielders..."_

Sora frowned as he read all that, feeling like he had read already read what bothered him. The Keyblade wielder rubbed his eyes, tired from trying and failing to teach his friends and then from reading through the entire book again. After another moment of forcing himself awake, Sora shook his head and flipped back to earlier in the book, to another scene that bothered him. Maybe time away from what he had been reading would give him fresh eyes for it later. Not that it had been much help when he had been struggling with the passage he had just turned back to, a section from the last chapter.

"… _the Heart of a world is reflected in its sky. At least, that's one explanation: since all Worlds originally were one, their Hearts echo the same things in their skies. It's why they all share one sky._

 _When Kingdom Hearts appeared above that battlefield, so too did it appear above all worlds. A beautiful, heart shaped moon that radiated pure light and warmth to all who gazed upon it. The Shattering destroyed that, however. Darkness rushed across the World, devouring and obscuring everything. It was shattered, its pieces sent further into the black abyss that contained them. My friends were lost to me in just a few moments. Most of them likely died in the Shattering. A few I eventually found once again, when the Light hiding within the Hearts of children guided some of those pieces back from the abyss, though none were complete. They were fragments, remnants of what they had once been. An island here, a continent there. The sky, for the first time, was devoid of stars. Despite every Keyblade sworn to the service of Darkness being cast, lifeless, to the ground, the Light had not truly been victorious._

 _And yet, this remnant provides hope. Perhaps, if it could be saved from the endless nothingness, eventually so too would others return. A simple spark can ignite hope, breathe fire into the Hearts of the weary. I hope that this account will survive to see that hope return and to warn the smaller, more honest souls who will defend the world again."_

Sora growled to himself as he reached the end of the book. He slammed it shut and, a half second later, threw it against the wall. He knew something in there was bothering him, but he just couldn't figure it out at all. Sora buried his face in his hands for a short while and tried to figure it out before realizing it was a fruitless pursuit. Sora groaned and swept his legs from his bed, making the decision to get a snack instead of slamming his head against the wall looking for answers. It would probably be more useful, too. He pocketed the book as he left the room, in case he needed to confirm any sudden epiphanies that came to him.

Sora worked his way through the hallways of the training facility, yawning periodically as he did. It was late at night, and everyone else was long since asleep. No one had been very interested in speaking with anyone else, given the beat down Sora had given them all that morning. Qrow especially seemed quiet and worried, as if something really weighed heavily on his mind. Sora assumed it had something to do with whatever Qrow had spoken about with Raven, and so decided not to push for more information, at least not yet. Sora felt – despite their difference in age, Qrow's unhealthy cynicism, and Sora's boundless optimism – that the two of them were friends, so Qrow would tell him sooner or later.

The Keyblade wielder soon found himself in the kitchen. He walked over to the huge fridge and pulled out some MRE's before throwing one into the microwave and the rest back into the refrigerator. He punched in the time for it to cook, then let his thoughts on Xehanort's book absorb him once again.

The book mentioned the Shattering as when Darkness consumed everything. Sora knew that to be when Kingdom Hearts disappeared into Darkness. Therefore, it was something he already knew – Xehanort wouldn't care if Sora found something he already obviously knew. Furthermore, the attributes of the worlds that the book described were things Sora had learned at the beginning of his journey, basic knowledge for travelers of the Lanes Between. If anything, the only new information that these books provided was that someone in Remnant's history had found a long forgotten explanation of the Keyblade War.

But it was clear that Xehanort would not intend for Sora to see something so mundane. The Keyblade Wielder had met a few people like that in his travels, so it wasn't impossible to find that on yet another world. No, whatever Xehanort wanted Sora to find, it would be something that would further his plans. Or, maybe, it was meant as a mere distraction. If Sora focused on that book instead of on trying to figure out what Xehanort was up to, the old man might surprise him. Still, though, even that didn't seem likely. Xehanort had decided to give Sora a rare look into his plans for some reason, probably a bad one, but Sora still had to figure it out.

After another moment or two, the microwave went off and Sora pulled his snack out. He took it out of the kitchen and sat down at the first table in the dining area with a heavy frown adorning his features. The only light coming in was the incredibly bright moonlight coming in through a sunroof on the ceiling. The place was pretty empty, as everyone else was asleep and the arena was set on a course that was input before their journey had even begun, so there was no reason for anyone to be awake. Sora groaned and began to pick at the food absently; now that he had the food, he didn't even feel hungry. It was like his theories about Xehanort had already taken everything up. Sora took a bite to confirm this and sighed when he had trouble even swallowing. He angrily cast a Blizzaga on the food and took it back to the fridge. He stared at the chrome box for a while before returning to the table.

Sora pulled out his Keyblade and placed it calmly on the table as he sat down. The Kingdom Key glittered, even in the shadows. Sora pulled the book out and placed it beside the weapon, not for the first time noting the odd similarities between the Kingdom Key and the cover art of the book. The Key adorning the book came from a description of the keys making up the **χ** -blade that appeared early in the book. Did this imply a connection between Sora's weapon and the **χ** -blade beyond the Kingdom Key simply being a Keyblade? Sora had wondered about the connection before, though Yen Sid had told the young man not to worry about it: if such a secret connection in fact existed, it would be revealed eventually. "Do you have any ideas?" Sora asked the weapon absently. It didn't answer, though it did seem to glow brighter as the moon's light slowly bathed it through the window. Sora's gut feeling worsened and a thought half crossed his mind before retreating into his subconscious. Sora groaned again as he tried to remember the thought. "I'm not getting any sleep tonight, am I?"

 _ **R W B Y**_

"WAH!" Sora shouted as he fell out of the chair where he had fallen asleep, Keyblade still on the table in front of him next to the book. He sighed and pushed himself to his feet, wiping off the slobber from his face. He'd been drooling in his sleep, and the entire left side of his face was wet. He sighed and picked up the Keyblade while stifling a huge yawn. He then dismissed the weapon and pocketed the book again, swapping it out for his Scroll. "Dang it," he sighed. He was already almost late for training with Ruby and the others; that's what he got for staying up all night trying to understand something he'd be able to ignore in a month when Xehanort was beaten. Sora yawned again before running off.

He arrived a few minutes later in the training arena, where everyone save Nora and Ren was already assembled. "Where are they?" Sora asked Jaune a moment later.

"Probably making out," Sun interjected mockingly. He laughed at the face Jaune shot him.

"Probably," Jaune admitted a moment later. He was standing as far away as possible from Qrow, who was sitting alone in the corner and staring at his unopened flask that lay just outside his arms reach The personal secret Raven had told him the day prior, it seemed, still weighed heavily on his mind. "But where were you?"

"Reading Xehanort's book," Sora said as another yawn escaped him.

"Any luck?" Ruby asked as she stretched her shoulder. Sora noted, embarrassed, that it was the one he had hit with a series of Fira the other day. She switched arms and smiled at Sora, sending his stomach into butterflies.

He shook off his blush. "Heh, no. Not yet," he said. Sora shrugged with closed eyes and opened them again. "Still stuck on those same couple sections, actually."

Ruby walked over to Sora and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, causing his mind to go blank yet again. He still wasn't used to that. "Well, you could always ask him when we kick his -"

"Language!" Qrow hypocritically shouted from across the room, looking up and narrowing his eyes on his niece. Ruby just laughed sheepishly.

Sora's mind cleared up a moment later and he looked over at Ruby disapprovingly. "Are you trying to distract me?" he asked in surprise. He shot her a look of mock disapproval.

"Damn it!" Neptune cursed. He sighed sadly as everyone looked over at him. "I was hoping he wouldn't figure it out..."

"We're here! We're not late!" a man's voice shouted. There was a loud pounding of feet as... Ren dragged Nora into the room behind him. His eyes were wide and wild, and his hair disheveled. "We are not late!"

Nora just laughed as she flailed about in the air behind her partner, laughing and screaming like she was taking a roller-coaster ride. "Weee he he heee!" she screamed excitedly. Ren came to a quick stop a moment later and the Huntsman, usually incredibly cognizant of his surroundings, felt the full force of the Nora flailing behind him slamming into his back and sending him tumbling across the room. Nora continued screaming "YAY!" while they slid to a stop across the ground.

Sora raised an eyebrow as Ren looked up from beneath the still cheering Nora. "We're here," he groaned before letting his face fall to the ground.

The Keyblade wielder laughed at Ren for a moment before summoning the Keyblade to his hand. "Get up, we've got work to do," Sora said as he lowered the weapon to his side in a ready stance. Everyone save the two newest arrivals quickly pulled out their own weapons.

"Aw..." Nora said sadly as she realized they'd stopped moving. "Ride's over?" She sighedsadly and crossed her arms, then stood up and pulled Magnihild from her back. Ren pushed himself up after a few seconds, in more pain from Nora than from bruises left over from the day before. After a couple seconds he flicked his wrists and his twin guns flew from his sleeves, ready for the fight. He tossed a quick look at Nora, who smiled and saluted him. He smiled softly and shook his head as he returned his gaze to Sora.

"Waiting on you," Sora said again, deciding against using one of his Drive Forms for the moment. The battle the day before had lasted maybe fifteen minutes, which wasn't nearly enough time for them to figure out how to use the Light. Sora knew that they had very little time for him to try and figure out a curriculum, so he'd have to just get them frustrated instead of hurt.

Ruby was the first to make a move, firing off her sniper rifle and dashing right at Sora. He ducked beneath her wild swipe and raised his Keyblade beside him to take the incoming attack from Jaune's blade. He used a spin move to go around the Knight and used him as a shield to block an incoming volley of Ren's bullets. Jaune's shield came up in time to block them all. Sora pushed off of Jaune and jumped backwards, easily deflecting Nora's hammer. He felt the air buzz for a moment and turned around to catch Sun's staff on the basket of his Keyblade while dodging Neptune's covering fire. Sora looked over his shoulder and flipped over the incoming Ruby, letting her scythe slam into Sun's midsection and send him flying into his partner.

Sora then rolled backwards, coming face to face with a greatsword that nearly slammed into his head if he wasn't so fast. Qrow's attack quickly changed direction, even Sora having trouble to block it and jump away with its momentum. He spun in the air, dodging the attacks of his friends as they came before rolling across the ground. Qrow, Jaune, and Nora quickly surrounded the Keyblade Wielder and he began quickly, albeit calmly, deflecting the attacks from all sides. Qrow's blade was knocked upwards just as Sora slapped his hand into the head of Nora's hammer to send it away from slamming into him. It fired a moment later and Sora slipped around the sudden reversal of the hammer's path to feel a shield slam into his back. He stumbled forward for a moment, barely missing Nora's hammer and raising a reflect to take Qrow's attack.

As Qrow's weapon rebounded with a _ding_ , Sora flipped over the Huntsman and kicked him in the back. Sora rolled across the ground to his feet while Qrow stumbled into Jaune. That was the moment things went wrong. "Get away!" Jaune snapped, eyes turning hard as he lashed out with his weapon at Qrow. Sora saw the Huntsman's momentary hesitation, the man wondering if allowing Jaune to attack him would somehow placate the young man or only feed his anger further. Qrow thought, apparently, it was the latter, since he raised his weapon and let the sword crash into the side of his own.

Jaune didn't care, however, and he launched into another attack on Qrow, forcing Sora to step in. "Stop it," Sora commanded as he ran up. Qrow, so far, was only blocking attacks and seemed unwilling to attempt any bodily harm on Jaune. The Knight, on the other hand, looked like he was out for blood. Sora jumped between the two and pulled a small red cylinder of Dust from the compartment in which he carried them, a quartet of dispensers on his belt that Ruby had devised shortly after the tournament to make it easier on him to pick them out. "Stop, Jaune. Don't make me ask again."

Jaune let his weapon fall to his side and he stared angrily at Sora for a while before sheathing his shield and sword then stamping off angrily. Sora looked over his shoulder at everyone else. "I'll... Maybe you were right, Ren. I'll check in on him." The ninja nodded and Sora ran off after Jaune. "Be back in a few minutes."

"Jaune. Jaune!" Sora snapped as he followed the angry Huntsman down the halls. Obviously, the Knight was ignoring him. Still, Sora was the faster of the two and he arrived beside Jaune with little effort. He grabbed the blonde's shoulder and stopped him quickly. "Jaune, what was that?"

"Shut up," Jaune grumbled, trying to shake off Sora's iron grip. He failed.

"Jaune, I tried to give you a night to think about this. I didn't think you'd do something so... wrong!" Sora shouted, letting go of Jaune when he became comfortable he wouldn't run away. "Qrow is our friend. Ruby's family. We don't attack people like that, ever."

"He's not my friend," Jaune growled, blonde hair casting a shadow over his eyes. He looked... Dark. "If he stays away from me, we'll be fine."

"I don't see that happening," Sora said simply, crossing his arms and scowling. "He just wants to do the right thing. So did Pyrrha. She accepted their -"

Jaune lashed out, shoving Sora backwards. "Don't say her name," Jaune snarled. He shoved Sora again, and the Keyblade Wielder took it with a heavy scowl. "None of you say that name. You never met her, Ruby didn't save her, and Qrow let her die."

"You're acting weird, Jaune. I wanted to give you time, but I thought you'd see what you needed to do. Qrow and Ozpin tried to do the right thing," Sora said, trying to placate the other young man. "At least try to see that. Try to see Pyrrha thought that, too. You said you were there, so you know that. Do you think she'd be happy you were resenting her last choi -"

Sora was cut off by a fist colliding with his face. It didn't do much damage, but it had surprised him that Jaune would do such a thing. "Go to hell," Jaune snapped as he walked away. Sora ignored the light stinging in his cheek as he watched his friend run from the hard truth. Maybe now he could try and let the truth sink in instead of running away from it. Sora shook his head and sighed before turning around to train with the others again. He'd done all for Jaune that he could right then; if the Knight didn't want to listen, that was his decision. Jaune would have to see the truth on his own, now.


	18. Breakthroughs

**AN: Howdy everyone! Sorry it's been so long, but I was out of town and didn't really have access to my computer for that whole time. That said, I'm glad to be back.**

 **So. Jaune. I see that the near future for his path is becoming pretty obvious. Yes, Jaune is not going to struggle with his Darkness in the second half of the story, he's going to use it. So far, nothing he's done is... well, it's nothing I wouldn't do.**

 **To Aoi Hyoudou: I agree. Sadly, Sora's natural hope and resilience to emotional pain don't always make him able to understand how others feel. The same with Ruby. They never forget, but they never stop moving forward.**

 **To Warrior of Six Blades: I have to admit, I'm kind of scared. What Xehanort wants Sora to find is a pretty big game changer, and I'm worried that it will be too controversial. That said, I like it and I hope you all do too when I reveal it or you figure it out.**

 **Also, the secret that Raven told Qrow is in this chapter. It's something both my brother and I thought was the truth in** ** _RWBY_** **immediately after watching Volume Three.**

 **Now, I should probably stop yapping, huh? Enjoy.**

 ** _Chapter 18: Breakthroughs_**

Three weeks later, the floating training arena had arrived at the very edge of the Mistral continent, and the group had gone to the surface in order to resupply for the week long trek across the ocean spanning the distance between the town where they were supposed to meet Raven and where they were then. Jaune wanted distance from Sora and Qrow; he had cooled down but had yet to apologize to either of them. Because of this, he had gone with Ren and Nora to restock on Dust ammunition for everyone – Sora himself was nowhere near running low due to how rarely he used the stuff, but almost everyone else was completely out due to their daily training sessions with him. Those sessions had not yet grown any less painful for anyone, as the closest anyone had gotten to summoning Light was when Ruby's eyes had glowed for half a second when blocking an attack heading for her uncle Qrow. Otherwise, it had been an unsuccessful few weeks.

Qrow had gone off on his own, saying he had gotten an alert from one of the other Maidens and had asked to check in with her a few dozen miles north – he wouldn't say where. He later said he'd be back at maybe midnight. Neptune and Sun did something similar, deciding they should probably check in with Scarlet and Sage to see how their sudden disappearance had affected the school. After that, they'd go and pick up food – neither Nora nor Sora could be trusted to not eat it all on their way back, after all.

This all left Sora and Ruby alone to try and find something to do. "We could service everyone's weapons," Ruby had suggested as everyone left the Bullhead they'd taken to get to the small village. "There's probably a weapon shop in this outpost."

"We'll be fine," Nora had protested almost immediately, drawing out the last word and snorting. "You two haven't had any time alone in three weeks!"

"Just don't take too much time alone," Qrow growled suddenly as he walked past. He looked at Sora, fire replacing his recent gloom for a half second. "Weaponless into a horde of Grimm."

The Keyblade wielder grinned nervously and looked over at Ren and Nora. The Berserker was carrying her partner over her right shoulder so he was dangling. "Neither have you, really," Sora supplied, holding in laughter at the sight..

"Oh, we had alone time for eighteen years!" Nora replied before Ren could cut in.

"That's... kind of true," Ren supplied. He looked up and shot his friends a smile. "Go. There will be plenty of time when all this is over, and _we_ aren't currently getting in lopsided fights every day."

At that, Sora grinned nervously again. He had a very natural grasp of how to use Light, and a natural grasp of something rarely translated into an excellent method of teaching. He'd been hoping for a while to find some way to break through to his friends, but he had no luck regardless of whatever he tried using to teach them. Sora was beginning to wonder if he even had what it took to teach anyone how to discover their Light, much less use it effectively.

So, there they were, walking side by side towards the jungle area that surrounded the small port town. Sora and Ruby's hands were clasped together, and the two of their cheeks were flushed a subtle red. "This is nice," Ruby said quietly, not glancing away from Sora as she did.

"Yeah, it is," Sora agreed, also keeping his eyes on her despite the flush in his cheeks. The silence that persisted following this was a comfortable one ended only as the two passed shops and looked at different things, or even bought a few knick-knacks or souvenirs to give their friends. Beyond that, however, they had little to actually do. So, naturally, Sora began to ask the young woman her opinion on things.

"What am I doing wrong?" Sora asked with a groan as they walked further towards the jungle. Ruby looked over at him quizzically, eyebrows raised in question. Sora sighed. "I mean, I haven't been able to help any of you to use Light."

"Well, maybe the problem is that you've been too... vague?" Ruby suggested quietly. Sora stopped and looked over at her, earnest interest in his features. He really wanted to help them survive this. Ruby blushed and moved her head from side to side. "I mean... you're trying to get us to use Light in general. Anything. Maybe just tell us how to do one or two things?"

Sora looked down and nodded slowly. "That's... smart. Hm..." Sora frowned, wishing he had more than just a week to try and implement that idea. Sora nodded and looked back up at Ruby, a soft smile spreading across his face. "Okay then. Which one do you want first?"

"What?" Ruby asked.

"Which spell? Which one do you want to start with?" Sora asked again, grin widening. He raised his free hand. "Fire, Blizzard, Aero, Thunder? Which spell that I've used sounds the best? The most fun? The most 'you?'"

Ruby blushed, then looked up and smiled. "Which one did you learn first?" she suggested with a shrug.

"Okay. Fire it is," Sora said, his smile disappearing as he began to try and think about how to go about teaching her how to use the magic. It clicked after a few moments. "How about I just tell you how I make it?" Sora looked up towards the blue sky, thinking hard about what happened when he used his magic. Fire usually began with a spark of his own fire, with a burst of passion or anger that he used to ignite his own energy. "You think of the things that get you super fired up! If you get angry or excited thinking about it, shoot it off to get some fire."

"Get angry, huh?" Ruby asked dryly. She laughed playfully, causing Sora to blush and laugh nervously along with her. "Well, shouldn't be too hard, though I think fire is more my sister's area of expertise."

"Hm," Sora grunted in acknowledgment, not trusting his voice to not crack at the moment. He cleared his throat. "So, how is that going, Ruby? Have your sister or your dad called you yet?"

Ruby frowned and Sora wondered for a moment if he'd said the wrong thing. Then she shrugged and smiled sadly. "No, not yet. Yang seemed really angry last time I spoke to her, too," Ruby replied quietly. She raised her eyebrows exasperatedly. "And I don't know why! Urgh... sisters are so annoying!"

Sora snickered at Ruby. "You're _laughing_?" she asked the boy.

"Only a little," Sora supplied, trying to hold in his laughter. He calmed himself down and sighed. "Okay. Sorry. But I wouldn't worry about it. In a couple weeks, you'll see her again. And I'll get to meet her! No one can be sad or angry around me! I mean, you can't, right?"

"Ha ha," Ruby muttered, only half sarcastic. Still, she smiled gratefully at his reassuring joy. "Okay. Oh! And you get to meet Zwei!"

"Zwei... your dog?" Sora asked blankly. His face steadily grew more and more excited by the prospect. "The one who can get turned into a fiery explosion? Who can destroy giant robots? Who can blow up entire subways with just a little help!?"

Ruby laughed and began to reply, only to be cut off by a sudden scream as the two of them reached the edge of the town. The jungle loomed ominously, darkness dripping off of the leaves. But the scream came from behind them; an older Faunus man rushed up to them upon seeing Ruby's weapon. His golden-orange eyes were wide and his fox ears were fidgeting nervously. "Huntress! Huntress, can you help me? Please!"

Sora and Ruby looked at each other for a moment, but then let go of one another and entered business mode. "What do you need?" Ruby asked, brow furrowing.

"My daughter! Please, they took her into the jungle! Please!" the man begged, clutching at Ruby's cloak. "Humans. Please help her!"

"Which way?" Sora asked, summoning the Keyblade to his hand and looking serious. The man just pointed into the jungle, and the two turned around and sprinted off faster than almost anyone else the man had ever seen before.

"How does this always happen when you're around?" Ruby asked as she dashed from tree to tree looking for another Faunus. She disappeared in a flash of roses to reappear a short distance away with her hood up.

"It's a blessing and a curse," Sora responded, looking around. The Keyblade thrummed in his hand and he subconsciously turned with its suggestion.

"Sora, where are you going?" Ruby shouted. He didn't answer, instead sprinting through the brush as his Heart was leading him. Ruby just growled to herself and shot after him with weapon at the ready; sometimes they were too much alike, charging ahead without communicating. The leaves rustled in the wakes of the two warriors as they sprinted towards wherever Sora's weapon was leading them, the hidden monsters of the jungle growling and hissing around them. The trees around them swayed dangerously as something in the distance roared... they'd have to work fast if they wanted to avoid whatever that monster was.

After a short while, the two of them burst through the edge of the treeline into a small jungle clearing. Curled up in the tall, swaying grass of the clearing was the form of a young woman with silver hair and rust red fox ears growing from her skull. She had her hands raised in an effort to shield herself from the incoming blows raining down on her that came from a trio of angry looking, drunk smelling humans. One was a middle aged man with graying hair wearing red and gray clothing, another a young woman with long brown hair done in a braid in a white tank and tan pants, the third a young man with golden hair adorned all in black. They all had one unifying factor, despite the disparity of their appearances and age – a black mask that covered their eyes.

The mask had white, glowing slits where the eyes should be, with white and red lines running across the matte material in twisted and evil patterns. It was a reversed Grimm mask. A reversed White Fang mask. "Yeah, how do you like that you dirty animal?!" the older man shouted as he landed a kick into her midsection.

"Did it feel good when you blew up Haven?!" the woman snapped as her boot slammed into the Faunus' head. She fell unconscious, blood flowing from her head. Her skull began to roll weakly in the tall grass, painting it red.

"That wasn't her!" Sora snapped, raising the Keyblade in front of him and summoning a powerful explosion of air around the young woman's body. The three black masked assailants were thrown away by the powerful burst of wind, sending them tumbling through the grass. They stood up slowly, with bruises adorning their skin and cuts leaking blood across their faces; obviously, these weren't warriors trained in using their Auras, just normal people being convinced to do terrible things by terrible events.

"Run away now or those bruises will be small problems," Ruby said, trying to sound as threatening as possible. Sora didn't think that she sounded scary or mean, but he knew she was too nice to go after defenseless people. Even defenseless idiots who beat people when they were afraid. The people who they had just beaten up, however, thought she looked more than terrifying enough to run away at full speed towards the town.

Sora watched them go for a half second before running right at the young, unconscious Faunus woman. Sora quickly raised his Keyblade, channeling a burst of healing magic through the tip and stitching together the wounds of the young woman. She hissed in unconscious pain as parts of her body snapped into place again, Sora's magic saving her life. Still, though, she remained unconscious. "She's not going to wake up any time soon," Sora said as he crouched next to the young woman. The roar echoed again, much, much closer this time.

Ruby looked over her shoulder, towards the source of the noise, nervously considering her options. Whatever creature was on its way, they couldn't both move this girl and try to fight the thing off at the same time. Ruby certainly couldn't carry the Faunus on her own, her specialty was speed after all. That meant Sora would have to carry the girl back to the town. But Ruby didn't have any Dust to use in a fight with some big monster. That meant she wouldn't be of too much help in defending Sora and the girl from the incoming monster. She checked her Scroll. No bars. It was down to the two of them, and she was wasting time overthinking this. They had a long enough trek back to the outpost, and it was getting more and more dangerous every second. "Pick her up, I'll cover you," Ruby finally decided. She readied Crescent Rose and looked over her shoulder again as Sora dismissed his Keyblade so he could slowly lift the young Faunus. He exchanged a glance with Ruby, then the two began trudging through the jungle again.

The two walked quietly for a short while, looking around to make sure nothing and nobody got the drop on them. "What's making that roar?" Sora asked as it echoed again, this time even closer. There was loud pounding as it neared.

Ruby clutched her weapon more tightly. "I have a bad feeling we're going to find out," she muttered. The trees swayed, and Ruby dashed forward to crash into Sora. He and the Faunus girl flew away while a large, black fist slammed into Ruby. She crashed through a tree and, without looking at her scroll, knew she could take maybe one more hit from whatever had crashed into her without dying – though she doubted her bones would survive the blow. She hazily pushed herself to her feet and her vision tunneled before she found her feet again. As it cleared, she saw that Sora and the Faunus victim were hiding behind a tree. Sora seemed ready to put the girl down and come to help Ruby. He was stopped when the giant creature slammed through the tree trunk and they were thrown into the base of another tree.

It was at this point that Ruby got a good look at the creature attacking them. It was a gargantuan Grimm, maybe ten or twelve feet tall and built to crush humans under foot for so much as a single glare. Its arms were long, with forearms the size of large barrels and fingers as big around as Ruby's legs. Bone plate erupted from its flesh to guard every joint and location that would otherwise be weak in a battle. Where the plate ended on its shoulders, the black flesh was more of a burnt red-orange that extended to create a terrible fire in its maw. There was a thick bone plate resting on its face over glowing, evil eyes to form incisor teeth as long as Ruby's head. It was a Beringel. Ruby had thought that those Grimm were extinct, for lack of a better word. They hadn't been seen in decades, which was lucky. Even the strongest and most trained Huntsmen had rarely escaped with their lives when they were completely ready for a fight with one. A Huntress in training, without any Dust on her, who was trying to protect two other people had... even less of a chance.

The Beringel reared up on its hind legs, pounding its chest and roaring as it stared down at the prone figures. Sora's eyes widened and he dropped the Faunus to raise his newly summoned Keyblade. The huge fist flew downward and it collided with a bright white wall. Sora's Reflega began to sink into the ground from the force of the blow, white sphere creaking audibly.

Ruby growled and ran forward, knowing only that she had to save her friend. Her blade flashed forward as quickly as she could move it without a Dust bullet, lancing to cleanly slice through the Grimm's leg. It bounced off, and the Grimm's glowing eyes turned towards the girl at its feet. It grunted in something between anger and annoyance, and flicked its foot at her. Ruby crashed into another tree, her vision fading in and out to only be accompanied by the noise of the slowly breaking Reflega wall. Sora couldn't fight back without endangering the girl, which meant that he couldn't fight back at all. Ruby felt useless as she pushed herself to her feet again, trying to catch her breath and figure something out. "Ruby! Run!" She looked over at the source of the noise. Sora was shouting at her as he struggled to keep up his defensive wall. The wall buckled for a moment when the creature hit him again, but he was able to raise it again just in time to deflect the next blow.

"No!" Ruby shouted, anger and worry for her friend and... whatever other title he was at the moment, bubbling up in her gut. She moved her weapon without thinking to its usual ready position across her shoulders, and suddenly found herself launching towards the Beringel. She could faintly smell smoke rising behind her as the blade of the weapon erupted into flames over her shoulder. She screamed a battle cry as the blade arced forward, causing a massive explosion to ripple through the flesh of the Beringel as she attacked. The Grimm looked over, eyes somehow widening in something that looked like surprise or fear while the flames spreading from its midsection began to devour it before its Black Dust could truly escape into the sky. A moment later, Ruby landed on the ground, Crescent Rose laid across her back with rose petals and smoke swirling together around her. And, just like that, Ruby Rose – Huntress in Training – had killed one of the most unkillable Grimm on Remnant all by herself.

"You did it!" Sora shouted, crashing into Ruby suddenly. She yelped in surprise as he picked her up with a big hug. "That was amazing!" He spun around, causing her to laugh at his infectious excitement as the wind dragged her hood down to her shoulders. She blushed as he let her down and her arms wrapped around his shoulders. The two of them began to hold their breath without knowing they were doing so, faces close to each other. "You were... amazing..." Sora muttered again as their faces grew closer and closer.

"Ugh, where am I?" an unfamiliar voice asked. Sora and Ruby stopped just centimeters from one anothers' lips to turn towards the young, bleary eyed Faunus woman who had begun to wake up. She looked around. "Who are you two?"

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Well, wasn't that just _interesting_ , Oz?" Salem asked, swiping her hand across the Corridor of Darkness she had summoned just moments before in order to watch the battle play out between one of her few remaining Beringels and the Silver Eyed girl. The woman had to admit that the girl had been trained well by her many allies. The little bird's brother, Oz himself, and even now with the young Keyblade Wielder, this girl had quickly learned from each of them. Salem smiled at her prisoner. He looked a lot different than he had more than half a year earlier when he had been captured. For one, he had that ridiculous looking beard he had taken to during his hermit decades. For another, his face was plastered with sadness instead of defiance, another throwback to his time as an angry wizard hermit. Salem frowned mockingly. "What, no collected and hopeful reply this time?"

Ozpin just looked at the ground to avoid Salem's gaze. "Oz, I'm going to keep doing this until you decide to respond," she said, voice full of mocking sympathy. She smirked darkly. "Speak. Now, Oz, before I get angry."

"What?" he growled without looking up. "What could you possibly gain by showing all of this to me, Salem? Besides joy from my suffering, that is."

"Well, you know that I always loved the smell of your suffering, Oz," Salem responded cruelly. She leaned down, whispering into his ear. "I did survive on that Darkness for centuries, after all. I love my favorite meal when I can have it." She stood up again, clasping her hands behind her back and staring up at the fractured moon. "Now, how about we start over. Wasn't that interesting, Oz? Red Riding Hood out there killing a Beringel without a single shred of Dust to her name."

"She is growing stronger. Your point, Salem?" Ozpin inquired wearily. His eyes moved without his head to glare into the pitless orbs in Salem's skull. Ozpin did not even bother to struggle against his restraints anymore. He didn't feel like being defiant at the moment. He was just so tired of being a step behind, of waiting for those he believed could save the world to rush headlong into danger they could not comprehend and die at the hands of an enemy that was far beyond their imaginations. Momentarily, he had been broken.

"Very good, Oz. You've figured out the most obvious thing in all of Remnant. A young, Silver Eyed warrior training with a Keyblade wielder is growing stronger. Next you'll tell me that the sky is black or that you're trapped with no way of escape," Salem said, her words accompanied by mocking laughter. "But yes, just as I had hoped, that boy is making that girl much more powerful. Maybe she'll even be powerful enough when she arrives here."

"You won't be able to take her," Ozpin growled, his defiance returned to his voice. His eyes narrowed to angry slits. "She won't give in so easily. You will fail."

"You said that about the last one. And the one before that," Salem said, moving her head almost imperceptibly from side to side. She smirked at the angry glare that her prisoner was giving her. She easily deflected the daggers flying from his eyes and smiled. "How many Guardians did you send to their deaths thinking they were the ones that would beat me? It's been a long few centuries to spend in other people's bodies."

"None of them stood with a Keyblade Wielder," Ozpin retorted, struggling against the Darkness holding him captive. It stretched from the weight of his Heart, but it did not break. "This is not the same as all those other Silver Eyes you destroyed. The first Keyblade Wielder we have seen since we arrived here landed right on Miss Rose's path? I don't believe in coincidences when the Heart is involved."

"Neither do I, Oz. If it was any other Keyblade Wielder, maybe you would be right about me. The Keyblades are connected to the Silver Eyes' powers. To their Light. And this girl's Heart seems especially linked to the Keyblade as well," Salem admitted with a shrug. She laughed after a moment. "But you've seen why this boy fighting me just is not a concern, Oz. You've been watching the same child as I have, after all."

Ozpin's head fell further as he struggled to find a response. Unfortunately, Salem was correct, in a sense. The boy had a painful weakness to the ancient witch, and she would capitalize on it as soon as they met on the battlefield. True, Sora had demonstrated more strength than most any other Keyblade Wielder Ozpin had ever seen. Unfortunately, that did little to change the crippling weakness that permeated his link to the weapon he held. But Ozpin also knew something else, something that even Salem did not grasp. That was something he had to keep to himself until the time was right, until it could be used to defeat her. And it was becoming more and more likely that the secret that Ozpin kept would be key to any victory in the war with Salem.

"You think that I underestimate them," Salem said, seeing through Ozpin's worry and into the core of his hope. "You think I underestimate _children._ " She laughed, the noise dry and grating. "No, unlike my pawns, I wouldn't dare think less of those two – it was little more than children who defeated me all that time ago, after all. But on the other hand, these two are not nearly as powerful as the other ones you've sent after me, even together."

"So you believe that you estimate their strengths perfectly?" Ozpin asked. He scoffed. "You have forgotten what the Hearts of the young are capable of: the more you push against them, the more you try to destroy them, to even greater heights will they will grow."

"Given time. But they will be here long before they reach that level. They won't have the chance to grow, Ozpin. I understand the Keyblades better than anyone alive, after all," Salem said solemnly. He eyes softened as she dragged her open palm across the bearded man's cheek. "Bar none." She added.

After a moment of staring into the dying soul of her prisoner, Salem stood up. Her shadowy dress billowed out around her, as if caught by some ancient wind. She reveled in the scent of pain that flew with it; despite the destruction of the Serpent Grimm during the Haven Attack and sealing of the Dragon Grimm during the Beacon Incident, the world was growing more and more chaotic and afraid. Alongside that crescendo of fear, the power of Darkness on the Remnant was waxing; the Remnant's Light could only wane in response. "In just under one week, Ozpin, I will have everything that I have wanted since I made the first Keyblade in Daybreak Town when we were young. Well, younger at least."

Her hands behind her back clenched even tighter. "It's fitting, I think. You've prepared everyone and everything that you could to defeat me, often using my own weapons against me. Trying to use the Keyblade that boy holds against me. But every time that you have tried to do it, I have ended up using those things and people you send to me in order to humiliate and destroy you. Just as those children grow in power from my adversity, you have crafted me through yours," Salem suggested, flashing a sharp toothed grin at her prisoner; her red eyes glowed menacingly for a moment. "Now, once again _because_ of your attempts to stop me, everything will return to what it should be." She turned her gaze away from Ozpin and sighed in disappointment. "I wish you could see the beauty in that."

"In destruction? There is no beauty in that which is easy, Salem," Ozpin responded knowingly. He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "It is the difficult things which reveal our brightest spots. I fear for her life, for his life. But I believe those two have gone through terrible things because of you, and have grown only brighter because of it. I will choose to do the hard thing then as well, and believe in Sora and Miss Rose."

"Then I will do the easy thing, and burn that hope by making every one of those children my own."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Raven stood just past the edge of the treeline, fidgeting nervously as she plastered herself to the shadows in order to hide. She had faced down monsters so terrible one could call them demons, and dueled with criminals so dark their rights had been stripped away. But none of that compared to having to deal with the twenty year old blonde woman and her father who were training together in the clearing. "Okay, that was good! Put a little more effort into it this time, though, Firecracker," Taiyang said as he picked up a tree trunk. "You only deflected that one. I know you can do better." There was an enthusiastic bark of agreement. Raven didn't recognize the dog; Summer must have bought him.

"Oh, I was just taking it easy, Old Man," the young woman said as she raised her remaining arm. She opened her hand and motioned for her father to throw the tree at her. "Bring it on."

Taiyang smirked back at his little girl, then tossed the tree right at her. A wild grin crossed her face and she took a half step back while readying her left hand to attack. As the tree came near, Raven's eyes widened. Yang wasn't wearing her weapons. The young blonde's fist shot forward a half second later and collided with the circular base of the trunk. Fractures suddenly appeared along the length of the wood, and an eerie creak could be heard as the energy in the tree seemed to suck inward. Another half second later, that energy was let loose in the form of a thundering _crack_ ; the tree trunk exploded from the point of impact, a bubble of air rushing out to send the splinters of bark flying in every direction except towards the one who had destroyed the trunk. Wood chips rained from the sky a moment later, bouncing off of the arrogantly smiling Yang Xiao Long. She placed her hand on her hip and laughed at her father's approving grin. "Please, no applause. Unless you can't help yourself," Yang said, bringing her hand up and flipping her hair out of her face. "Which you can't."

Sufficed to say, watching her daughter train had both calmed down Raven Xiao Long and made her much more terrified of interacting with her family. When your daughter has a temper that is, quite literally, _fiery_ and she's capable of shattering trees with her bare hands, you should probably approach any life altering conversations with a bit of... finesse. Qrow had told her the opposite, of course. "Tai and Firecracker have _no_ finesse. And honestly, neither do you when it comes to feelings," he had explained solemnly. "Besides, you'll just psych yourself out if you keep overthinking it."

It seemed that, despite her adamant belief that Qrow could never be right, Raven was indeed psyching herself out by overthinking things. She groaned inwardly in an attempt to get rid of her anxiety, but it didn't seem to help. "Just go out there, Rae. Tai respects the direct route. Loves it. Just... go! Now!" she hissed quietly, slamming her hand into the side of her head. "Come on!"

"Bark!" a small animal shouted from beside her leg. Raven opened her left eye to stare down at the blank, happy stare of Yang's dog. It cocked its head to the side, tongue flopping about wildly, and barked happily once again.

"Shoo!" Raven hissed, trying to push the animal away with her foot. It just yipped and began to run in a circle, trying to get Tai and Yang's attention. "Stop!"

"Zwei? What's wrong?" Tai asked. There was a huge thud as he dropped the tree trunk he had been holding and began to walk towards the excited pup. "Is there someone here?" There was the characteristic whining of gears as Tai activated his orange-yellow bracers. "Zwei?" The dog just barked happily and began to run in circles again.

As the footsteps grew closer, Raven shut her eyes and began to hold her breath. As Tai began to round the tree, Raven spun around it and crashed right into him. "Ow," she groaned, gingerly rubbing the spot where Tai's bracer had slammed into her forehead. She opened one eye and smiled meekly up at her husband, ignoring the barrel of the bracer that was aimed right at her skull. "H-hello, Tai. Long time no see!"

Taiyang didn't say anything. Neither did Yang, for that matter. The only one who seemed interested in making any noise was the incredibly excited dog who was running around Tai and Raven like the pack had been rejoined. Raven coughed nervously and looked over at her daughter, who was wearing a gray, leather jacket over an orange, midriff exposing tank top. She had olive green cargo pants on with a flaming heart on the right thigh. "I heard you like to be called Firecracker. Um... hi Yang. It's good to see you again... and you're not in trouble this time!"

"R-Raven?" Taiyang asked, his voice beginning to crack. Raven looked up at him, hoping that his reaction would go well. She couldn't tell what he was thinking yet, as she was so far incapable of reading his expression – something of a rarity for her. Tai let his hand fall to his side, the gauntlets deactivating as he continued to stare at the woman whom he had once called his wife.

Raven laughed nervously. "It's, er, good to see you both, I guess we have a lot to talk about, don't we?" There was no response, merely silent stares of disbelief from the two blonde warriors. Raven fidgeted under their gazes, trying to collect herself. "Do – do you feel like saying anything, Tai?"

"Mom?" Yang breathed, walking towards her mother. She flinched to hide her wound when Raven looked over at her. The woman smiled sadly and glanced away shamefully. Raven rubbed her left arm nervously, as if trying to wash off the two decades she had spent running from this very conversation.

"I... hurt the person who did that to you, Yang – Firecracker," Raven supplied suddenly, a small, dark smile crossing her face. "I carved his arm from his body while his followers watched. I left him to rot. Begging for a human to kill him at the center of a war. Heh... I would have tortured him, but I was needed somewhere else." Yang edged away from the darkly satisfied look on her mother's face, but seemed otherwise grateful for the cruelty unleashed on her attacker. Raven shook her head and smiled nervously. "I hope that gives you some measure of peace."

"Did you know she was alive?" Taiyang suddenly asked, ignoring the direction of the conversation and turning on his daughter.

"I maybe saw her once," Yang replied haltingly. Taiyang's face grew quietly angry in response. "She saved me when I was in danger, but I didn't really _know_ until the Vytal Festival was almost over. And then everything happened and I -"

"It's not your fault," Taiyang growled before turning on his wife. His eyes had returned to the lilac they had been when they were young – something that often happened when he was angry. His gaze locked onto that of Raven, growing angrier and angrier every moment. "I take it your brother knew? Don't answer that, of course he did. And Ozpin. You could hide secrets from us – from your _husband_ and your _daughter_ – but those two were always worthy of your confidence."

"Yes. Ozpin was the one who sent me on my missions," Raven admitted. She reached out to try and stroke Taiyang's cheek. "I'm sor -" she was cut off when he slapped her hand away and took a step back. She froze for a moment before coughing nervously and placing her hands back in fists at her side. She was fighting an urge to cry; it seemed to be a day of firsts for the seasoned Huntress. "I'm not going to lie and say I had to leave. But I'm here now. I won't leave you again."

Yang smiled appreciatively and moved to speak. Taiyang spoke up first, though. "Don't believe her. She did this all the time when were dating – disappear and come back at her convenience. I believed the heart wrenching apologies every time. And honestly? Your lying is getting worse," he growled at Raven. She looked down, not denying what he had said. She had often done just as he stated, running off whenever she had grown bored then returning with the knowledge that Taiyang had waited diligently for her. Ruby's existence demonstrated that had not been the case.

Still, she had not expected the usually sunny Taiyang to respond to her reappearance like this. "I want to make it right, Tai. I love -"

"Maybe you do," Taiyang interjected, his eyes softening. He took a breath and shut his eyes as if he was steeling himself to make a hard decision. "But even if that _is_ true, I – Raven, you died. You'd never been gone for years, even when we were kids. At this point... Yang and me? We're strangers to you. She's healing. She needs..."

"I know what I need, Dad. She's my mo-"

"She let you get hurt!" Taiyang snapped at his daughter. He pointed at her arm. "You said she saved you, but then where was she when this was happening? Why didn't she stop that!? Why didn't she save her little girl!? Because. She. Doesnt. CARE!"

"That's not fair, it's not her fault it happened!" Yang responded angrily. She marched up to her father and shoved him with her arm. Raven flinched upon seeing what her mere presence was doing to the people she loved; they were fighting, they hated each other because of her. "If it's anyone's fault, it's -"

"He's right," Raven cut in, making the painful, 'right' decision for once. She smiled sadly and motioned about aimlessly with her hands. After a moment, she placed her hand on her blade and her other on her chest. "I... um... I won't bother you again, Tai. I'm..." She shook her head and wiped away tears. "I'm gone." Then she turned on her heel and slashed out with her blade before she could change her mind and make things worse.

"Mom!" Yang shouted, rushing towards the woman. But it was too late: Raven Xiao Long had already closed the portal behind her and disappeared yet again. Yang stared blankly at where the mother she had wanted to speak with for two decades had just been standing. Her fists trembled at her side as the anger in her chest began to crescendo into a scream.

"This is for the best," Taiyang muttered quietly over the disapproving whines of Zwei.

Yang's hair began to glow a bright yellow, as if she was about to explode with rage. Taiyang shut his now blue, tear stained eyes and shrunk from the inevitable burst of fiery rage, only to be surprised when it never came. "Come on Zwei, let's train by ourselves," Yang muttered, motioning for the dog to follow her. He did, yipping enthusiastically as if unaware of the events that had just transpired.

Taiyang just watched them go, repeating in his mind over and over again that he had made the right decision. Yang needed stability in her recovery, something that Raven had never been able to provide even at her best. Still, he loved Raven and couldn't help but let tears stream down his face. "This is for the best."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Daughter." Winter Schnee froze in her tracks as a streak of pure annoyance ran up her spine. She turned slowly to glare at the man who stood at the top of the stairs like a king speaking to a disobedient princess, and also the only thing that was stopping her from speaking with her younger sister. It was a man in his early sixties, with hair as white as that of any of his daughters'. He had a luxurious mustache that matched his heavy eyebrows perfectly and came together well with his Schnee-white suit and disapproving blue eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Father," Winter said, bowing her head slightly, though more out of habit than actual respect. She looked back up at him, not even bothering to hide the disdain in her eyes and voice when she continued to speak. "I was unaware the comings and goings of an Atlesian Specialist were of concern to you."

The man's eyes – somehow – simultaneously softened and hardened. "The comings and goings of my daughter will always be of concern to me, Winter," he said, his own hardened form of love shining through his words. He lifted his hand from the railing and walked towards his daughter with hands clasped behind his back. "You may not approve of my decisions, you may not like me, and you may not even love me, but that changes little in my heart. I disagree with you, I argue with you, and I truly wish that your younger sister did not look up to you quite so much." He stopped in front of Winter and smiled as best he could, placing a hand on her shoulder before continuing. "But I love you nonetheless. What are you doing back, Daughter?"

"I wish to speak with my sister. She enjoys actually learning about what is going on in the world," Winter explained coolly, not letting her father's words sway her. "Understandable, given her imprisonment by her own father."

"I will gladly play villain to keep Weiss safe. If I could do it for you as well I would," the man said, removing his hand from his daughter's shoulder. Her posture softened, though she hadn't even noticed it stiffen. _Sloppy_ , she cursed herself.

"How kind of you," Winter hissed. She looked down at her Scroll, pretending to check the time. "May I leave? My sister _is_ expecting me, after all."

The elder Schnee stared at her for a moment, considering her before responding. "You've never been this disrespectful before," he muttered. His eyes narrowed on his daughter's and his voice became dangerously low. "Tell whatever tramp you've decided to court that he should stay away from you." With that, he turned away and walked back up the stairs.

At his words, Winter had gone beet red. "I am not courting anyone!" she snapped, voice higher than it should be. She watched her father laugh quietly at her as he walked away, his shoulders shaking with joy at his daughter's far too sudden response. After another few moments, Winter coughed to clear her throat and smoothed out the creases of her outfit. She placed a stray hair back into formation and and took a deep breath to calm herself, then walked to her sister's room.

"Sister! How – oh, you must have seen Father," Weiss said, standing up from where she had been reading a book on the many uses of the Schnee Glyph semblance. Her face had gone from excited to empathetic in just a few short seconds.

"It is that obvious?" Winter asked, annoyed. She slowly and quietly shut the door to Weiss' room behind her and sighed. Only two people in all of Remnant could unnerve her – one was her father, and the other... She blushed and shoved thoughts of Qrow Branwen from her mind. "Yes, he was waiting for me on the stairs. He looked like someone trying to play Ice King."

Weiss snickered. "That's new," she noted. Winter looked over, wondering what her sister meant. It must have been plastered on her face, as Weiss laughed nervously and began to explain. "You don't like Father, but... well, you never call him names."

"Ah," Winter muttered. She had spent too much time talking to Qrow recently. "I am just... flustered. I take it you know what happened at the tournament?"

Weiss nodded somberly. "It was... Winter, was it the same person who destroyed Beacon?" she asked after a few moments.

Winter nodded. "Your deductive skills grow by the day, Sister," Winter noted approvingly. Despite the gravity of their conversation, Weiss had to fight off the grateful blush that resulted. Winter nodded again. "Yes, it was the same group responsible for the destruction of your school."

"I wish you could have brought me to help you," Weiss muttered. Her longing for the outside world had also grown by the day, making her gilded cage appear more and more empty as time went on. And when Winter Schnee was where the boy who still constantly called Weiss' Scroll despite having received no answer in months lived, as well as where Weiss' best friend was battling for her life and the lives of others, it made the house seem even emptier.

"Perhaps next time," Winter said, earning a small smile from her sister. Winter stood up straighter and adopted a more strict expression. "Is your training going well? Have you improved your summonings yet, or do you require more of my assistance?"

At that, Weiss' face fell. "It's going... poorly. I haven't been able to summon a full creature yet." She looked up at her sister, hoping that she would at least be impressed with her other news. "Though I can replicate what I did during the attack," she explained, referring to the arm of the creature their father had used to test her devotion to becoming a Huntress. Winter did not congratulate her. Weiss sighed and sat heavily on her bed. "I think I just need more practice."

"You are doing fine, Sister," Winter said, face softening. She sat beside her sister and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I do not mean to make you believe you cannot do it. I know you can. After all, you're already better than all of our other sisters."

"They don't even know the right end of a sword to hold," Weiss remarked dryly. Winter laughed, and Weiss' irritated look was replaced with one of bewilderment. "Now you're laughing, too? Did something bad happen and you're trying to make me feel better before telling me?"

Winter looked quizzically at her sister. "No, I – I merely had a good time, is a-"

"Ruby's uncle." Weiss interjected simply.

Winter choked on her own spit and began to pound her chest to clear her throat. She didn't look very ladylike or strong at all. After a moment, she laughed nervously and tried to refute the truth. "N-what?" she stammered. Her voice was an octave higher than usual, and her expression was stuck between smiling nonchalantly and glaring at her sister with enough cold anger to freeze fire. "Wh-what would give you that idea?"

Weiss just crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side. "You blush every time you talk about the 'Drunkard,'" Weiss explained dryly. She smirked at how off put her sister was becoming. "If I'm right, you have a thing for bad boys."

"Watch your tongue!" Winter snapped, immediately cowing her younger sister. The Specialist stood up and smoothed the creases in her uniform and fixed her hair again. "Apologies, Sister. It was a very long flight. Accompany me for luncheon?"

Weiss looked side to side cautiously, then looked up at her sister. "So it is Ruby's uncle?"

"Never mind food. I forgot I must meet with General Ironwood for a debrief." And with that, Winter spun on her heel and marched out of the room, all the while trying to ignore her sister's laughter and put down the flush in her cheeks before her father saw it. Or, worse, before the General noticed and deduced the reasoning for it. _That_ would result in a scandal the magnitude of which Winter hoped never to see, much less one in which she would be the main player.

That was when it _really_ hit her, though. She stopped in her tracks and gripped at her heart, face pale white from shock and terror. "Oh, God, no," she muttered quietly as it sank in completely. "I have a... a _thing_ for Qrow Branwen." Her face fell in shame, and her arrogant mannerisms disappeared as she groaned. "Kill me now."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Xehanort hissed angrily as he stared at his arms, the ever withering flesh and bone of his Replica body spreading beyond his left arm. Now, it was a chore to merely keep himself together at all. Sora had done more than merely defeat him during his assault, he had crushed the elder Keyblade Master as if he were nothing. It was not an experience to which Xehanort was accustomed, not without it being a direct result of his own planning, at least. Magic did him no good to heal his wounds either, instead only weakening him further.

With an angry, exasperated noise, Xehanort began to bind up his arms in bandages so he could hide his worsening injuries. He looked over his shoulder every few moments to ensure that no one came through door of the abandoned building in which they had taken up residence. The other three members of their group were out doing different things. Emerald was practicing hiding herself with Darkness, Mercury was busy watching her and likely making comments that toed the line between sarcastic insults and flirtatious remarks, and Cinder was attempting to communicate with Salem, allowing Xehanort time alone.

When Xehanort finished wrapping the bandages around his arms, he returned his coat to his shoulders. He groaned in pain as his bones creaked within him, grinding against one another more and more with every movement. It was increasingly obvious that he did not have long.

There was a quiet creak as the door began to open. Xehanort quickly pocketed his hands and turned around to glare at his new company. "Mercury," the old man noted as he examined the young man. He looked nervous, almost deferential as he stood in the doorway. Xehanort had to admit that yet another rarity had occurred – he was confused by the young man's presence. "What do you want?"

"You know, I don't respect most people," the young man explained. Xehanort groaned inwardly as he held a disinterested look– he was opening anecdotally. "Any people really. Probably normal if your dad's an assassin who tries to kill you. Hm."

"Does this have a point, boy?" Xehanort asked, annoyed with the inane outcome of events so far. Xehanort began to motion with his hands, probably far too much. "I do not have time for meaningless prattle."

"I like that. Direct. It's refreshing after all this time with Cinder," Mercury explained, voice bored as he began walking from side to side.

"So you want to ask questions. I promise nothing, boy," Xehanort responded. "After all, what would Cinder Fall do if she found you going behind her back?"

"Probably yell at me again," Mercury noted with a shrug, easily quelling the fear in his guts. It was then that Xehanort understood: Cinder Fall had her slave through Emerald's blind faith, and it appeared that a similar respect had formed for Xehanort in Mercury's Heart. Perhaps this would be the key to splitting their loyalties for...

Xehanort smiled and cut off his own thoughts. They could dangerous if someone could read his Heart, a distinct possibility given his many distractions and newfound weaknesses. "I won't tell if you do not."

Mercury nodded. When he spoke, his voice had become a low whisper. It was as if he was afraid that the woman would hear him and kill him as a result. Xehanort had to respect such an ability to inspire fear. "Who's Salem?"

"Bold, just asking," Xehanort said approvingly. He shrugged and decided to answer, to garner the trust of the young man. "Something very old. A woman with very... particular goals." He paused and smiled, golden eyes glowing greedily. "What has Cinder said about her supposed end game, boy?"

"Well, I know she really wants to try on clothes, get her nails done, and talk about cute boys," Mercury noted dryly. He scoffed. "Let's be honest – she's of course told us a grand total of zilch."

"Fitting, given what her Master wants," the old man muttered. He shook his head and stifled his laughter, then looked up at the young man. "Salem is a monster, even by my standards. But this chaos you are sowing? This hatred and rage and destruction that you're crafting? Imagine if the chaos became so great no Light remained in the Hearts of any on the Remnant. That is it – Her goal is destruction. She craves it."

Mercury shrugged. "So? What's a little chaos?"

"Unoriginal and pointless. I despise pointless things, but – for now – her interests align with my own," Xehanort explained, walking up to Mercury. "But they won't forever. When the time comes... well, I do not desire destruction, just power. Power I would share with allies and the deserving in the reconstruction that will follow."

"I back the fun side, and Cinder's getting a bit boring if we're going to be honest. It's all blowing up cities and filming it. Lame," Mercury noted dryly. He shrugged slowly, then grinned at the Keyblade Master. "I'm game for a good fight, anyways."

Xehanort smiled confidently. Perhaps everything _could_ be salvaged, as long as the seeds of doubt and fear that he had sowed in Sora's ally and within the Heart of the Keyblade Wielder himself could reach fruition. He had to admit, he was short on time before coming face to face with Salem once again, and he would not reveal such information if he had more time to mold the young man to his will. He hated working on short time tables, but this one had promise.

"I think you show great promise, boy," Xehanort said, trying to further gain the young man's confidence. The young man smiled, happy with the approval of the dangerous old man. "I believe you could learn more from me than I originally believed. Tell me, what do you think of Light?"

 _ **R W B Y**_

As Sora and his friends neared their destination, things were looking progressively brighter. Ruby was an insanely fast learner, having mastered the basics of every base level elemental spell that Sora knew, and had even managed to use Fira and Aeroga at times along with a slew of Holy Spells. Each and every time she summoned up a Holy Spell, her eyes glowed with a bright white intensity. She hadn't managed to summon up whatever spell had beat down Xehanort, but she was well on her way. The others had varying levels of success with magic so far, usually being a natural with one spell and being able to use one other. Nora had become incredibly proficient with Thundara and using it alongside her Semblance to almost endlessly increase her own physical strength, but the only other element she had even been able to use was a simple magnet spell. Neptune, perhaps ironically, had only been able to use magic based on the elements of water and ice, while his best friend had a natural affinity for the Aero and anti gravity elements. Ren was pretty good with Poison and Confusion magic, while Jaune could make a stronger Reflega than even Sora could but nothing else. The only one of their group to not bring a single spell single spell to bear was Qrow, something that was only increasing the man's already dangerous levels of frustration.

The night before the arena-ship was set to land over in Vacuo, Sora decided that he should try to see if Qrow would want to talk about what was bothering him. The guy may have been incredibly skilled without magic, but Sora knew taking chances against Xehanort was never a good idea. So that's how it was when Sora found Qrow alone and leaning against the wall outside Sora's room. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to do all this stuff yet," the man said before taking a small drink from his flask. He looked over at Sora and sighed. "I've just got a lot on my mind."

Sora nodded silently and leaned against the wall across from Qrow. "Want to talk about it?" Sora asked.

"Not really," Qrow muttered. He took another drink, then offered it to Sora. The Keyblade Wielder shook his head vigorously. "It's coffee. More for the habit of it all than anything else, and it works for Oz."

Still, Sora shook his head. "Is it about what Raven told you?" he asked after a moment. He crossed his arms and waited for a response. None came. Sora frowned sympathetically at the older man. "Qrow, I just want to help."

"I know," the Huntsman said, then he fell quiet. They stood in silence together for a while, Sora waiting for Qrow to speak and Qrow deciding not to. As the silence continued to lengthen, it continued to grow more awkward. Eventually, Qrow knew he had to say _something_. "It's the Maiden. When I went to check on her, she was already gone. Looked like she'd put up one hell of a fight."

"Xehanort probably took her," Sora said, though he wasn't sure that would placate the Huntsmen. He grinned sheepishly. "Don't worry though: we'll save her when we take him down."

Qrow grunted an affirmation, but did little else. "What's really wrong, Qrow?" Sora asked when he realized that the older man was not nearly as scared by that development as he probably should have been.

Qrow was dead silent for a few heartbeats before letting loose an exasperated sigh. He realized the Keyblade Wielder probably wasn't going to drop the topic, so he decided to merely scratch the surface of it. He muttered, almost too quiet for Sora to hear, "I was in love with Ruby's mother, you know that?"

"Really?" Sora asked incredulously. He pushed off from the wall and motioned with his hands. "Then why -"

"It's like I told you. I was one of the two choices, not the one choosing," Qrow cut in solemnly. He sighed and put away his flask of coffee. "But still, I would have done anything for her. Even stand there and watch her be happy. Best Man in her and Tai's wedding and everything."

Sora glanced down with his eyes, then back up at Qrow. What did this have to do with Raven and Qrow's new secret? "Is that why you're so close with Ruby?" Sora asked instead.

"At first. She looks... just like... Summer," Qrow said, voice falling in and out. His eyes glazed over and pain flashed across his face.

"Qrow?" Sora said, placing his hand on the Huntsman's shoulder and lightly shaking him. The Huntsman snapped out of his stupor, but the film of tears remained. "Qrow, are you okay? I'm not asking because whatever is going on keeps you from using magic. I'm asking because it's hurting you to hold it in like this."

"You said Xehanort could steal bodies, right?" Qrow asked suddenly, his gaze never leaving the ground. It sounded like he was fighting to hold in every word, but he just couldn't bear the pain alone anymore.

Sora slowly let go of the man's shoulders, growing ever more worried. "Why? Did he take -"

"Salem has her body." Sora's eyes widened slowly and he felt the blood drain from his face. Qrow grabbed Sora by the shoulders. "You kill her, and Ruby never has to... She never has to see. Promise me, Sora. Promise me!"

"We have to tell Ruby," Sora said breathlessly. He turned to go, expecting Qrow to follow him.

"Promise me you won't!" Qrow hissed, launching forward and shoving Sora into the wall. His eyes were red and puffy, tear trails streaming down his manic face. Sora was even more worried now. "It would destroy her. Please, for me, _don't_ _tell_ _her._ She'll be distracted, she'll try to reason with her. She'll die. Just... not until it's all over, please. I'll tell her then, but just don't – Not yet, please."

"Qrow, she deserves to know!" Sora shouted as he shoved the Huntsman away. However, he didn't move; Qrow's claim Ruby would die had rooted Sora to the floor.

The Huntsman fell to his knees. When his voice came, it was hollow and hoarse. "... Please. Everything going on – it's just too dangerous. Sora, she'll die if she knows right now." He looked up at the young man, eyes full of fear and pain. "Don't tell Ruby that Salem has Summer's body."


	19. Twilight Hour

**AN: Yo! Here we are, the penultimate chapter of the first half of the story, and he's already stronger than Xehanort...**

 **I like this chapter a lot, especially its fight scene. It's the longest single battle sequence I've had in a while. Next chapter is when everything else will be revealed: what Xehanort** ** _really_** **wanted Sora to see, where Sora's friends are, and even why Sora found the statue of Ozpin so familiar way back nine-ish chapters ago. After this, the game is going to change a** ** _lot._**

 **To Gravenimage: I agree that it may be too predictable for Salem to be inhabiting Summer, or not what the show is planning on doing. It is only a theory after all. I think it works the best out of all of them with the** ** _Kingdom Hearts_** **mythos. I also agree that not a lot of info is present – after all, if everyone believed Raven was dead who's to say that Summer is? I originally thought Winter Maiden as well, but (and, given studios these days, they could be lying) they said that their similarities in appearance were coincidence.**

 **To gamelover41592: I** ** _LOVE_** **Qrow x Winter. I think it's my first OTP...**

 **To 7: Sucks, right?**

 **To warrior of six blades: I'm really glad that my choices for the spells that each of the Huntsmen in Training have mastered are logical. I probably spent just as much time thinking that up as I did writing the rest of it.**

 **Ruby fighting her mom. It does suck, huh? But she's not the only one who is going to be forced to confront terrible secrets next chapter. Whether she overcomes them...**

 **As for Qrow and Sora's decision to keep it a secret, I would have done it too. For Sora, though, it's more a contrast to how – in CH17 – he said you should never keep a secret. When it's personal, even he has flaws.**

 **To sethman610: Yeah, Tai made a stupid decision because of his fiery temper. I'm guessing he's at least a little like his eldest daughter in that regard.**

 _ **Chapter 19: Twilight Hour**_

Yang Xiao Long was slowly and angrily packing her clothes into a couple of suitcases.

Okay, you got me. That's not really accurate.

Yang Xiao Long was slowly and angrily packing her clothes into a veritable _mountain_ of suitcases and bags. Most of the bags were filled with old stuff or things she didn't want to take with her on her journey, so she was only using a couple for travel. She had mainly filled them to continue shoving her anger in her father's face and show she was serious about leaving... permanently, once her flight took off the next morning for Atlas. The younger Xiao Long was dressed in her black and white leather jacket and the outfit that went with it, the right sleeve rolled and tucked in snugly against her still bandaged wound. Her hair was glowing a bright yellow, as it had for nearly every day the past week. To go along with this, her eyes were the red of a bloody sunset that conveyed more pain than anger. Zwei was rolled up in a ball in the corner of the room, snoring quietly as he waited for attention from the young woman. She tossed another folded outfit into her next bag and zipped it shut, something which was not the easiest thing to do when it was filled to the brim with clothes and shoes.

"I wish you'd reconsider... this," Taiyang said while gesturing at the mountain on top of his daughter's bed. He had been standing silently for the longest time, waiting for his daughter to talk to him. To yell at him. _Anything_ except just give him the cold shoulder. She was too fiery for that, and it worried him in an entirely new way that she had elected such a cool manner of letting her anger out. "It seems rash, Firecracker." She stopped packing for a moment, but didn't look up at her father. After a half moment's hesitation, she elected to ignore him and continued to pack.

Taiyang made a noise halfway between a growl and a sigh of exasperation, knowing his daughter was not going to let this go. Still, he'd always been better at talking than shutting up. "I know that you're angry with me right now, Honey. Believe me, I even understand why," he began to explain. He paused momentarily; his daughter hadn't even responded, so now he was wondering if she was even listening to him. He shrugged and decided it didn't matter – he wanted to say what he had to say. "But when you're older, you'll understand that you can't trust people who always run away when the going gets tough. They don't stop running away, no matter what you think you can do to help them."

That got his daughter's attention. She stopped moving again and even cast a momentary glance at her father. There was significantly less light coming from her hair now, though it was still burning quite bright. "She's still my mom," Yang muttered coolly, her hands unzipping the next bag. She picked up a pair of pants and examined them for a moment, then tossed them over to her travel bag. Yang shot her father a disappointed glance. "Why can't you admit you're wrong."

"Because -"

"Not a question," Yang cut in as she folded up the outfit she'd worn almost every day at Beacon – at the attack – and put it into the storage bag.

Tai considered this for a moment, then decided to answer her non-question regardless. "I'm not wrong, Firecracker. You can't change people who run away, because they'll never stay long enough to change when things get tough," he explained. Yang could almost taste how bitter her father's words were at that moment. Taiyang wearily sighed. "Raven may have given birth to you, but a mother is someone who stays, Yang. Summer, she stayed."

"So I'm not allowed to know my mom!?" Yang snapped, her hair glowing again and starting to float. An aura of flames began to spark around the young woman's shoulders, matched by the angry intensity in her eyes. "She came back, Dad! Maybe this time she would have changed! Would have stayed!"

"I told myself the same thing every time!" Tai snapped back. He stomped forward, unafraid of his daughter's fiery temper; she got it from him, after all. "And it _never_ happened, so don't go around criticizing me for things you have no idea about. I am your father, and despite what you think I know better than a girl who hasn't seen enough of the world to even be scared."

"Really!?" Yang shouted, swinging her arm back and sending unpacked bags flying everywhere. There was a loud, confused yip as one landed on Zwei and trapped him in darkness. His barks of surprise and confusion went ignored. "At least I'm not an old man who's so afraid of the world that he's already a burnout!"

Hurt flashed across Taiyang's face, and Yang knew she'd gone too far, but she couldn't stop herself. The anger just kept flowing. "You aren't the only one that lost Mom, or Summer! Ruby and me lost them, too, but that didn't stop us from going out and trying to make it so that wouldn't happen to anyone else! Uncle Qrow said you used to be the bravest man he knew, but I wouldn't know it looking at you. All I see is a coward hiding in his cabin hoping that the world stops reminding him it's out there!"

Taiyang's breathing became measured and he steeled himself as his vision blurred. He blinked back the tears that came with his daughter's rage and disappointment. "I guess I was wrong. You're more like me than Raven," he said with a tone of finality. Then he shook his head and walked away from Yang's room.

Yang watched him go, her heart slowly sinking. "Dammit," she groaned. She slammed her hand into her forehead hard enough to shatter trees, but it didn't do anything to her. "Why did I say that? Stupid, stupid idiot!"

She looked down as a bag slammed into her leg and a whine of confusion erupted from beneath it. In spite of herself, Yang let out a small laugh and kicked the bag off of the yipping animal. Zwei was rolling around on the ground, paws swiping at the air where the bag had been moments before. He stopped midbark and cocked his head to the side, as if embarrassed by his behavior in front of his human. "And what do _you_ think about all this?" she asked the dog. She leaned down and scratched the dog's chest, making him snort happily and wriggle around joyfully. Yang smiled sadly and continued to scratch the dog's exposed belly. "Did Dad make the right choice here?"

Zwei groaned and rolled onto his feet. It shuffled from side to side for a moment, then the deceptively powerful dog jumped up Yang's arm to tackle her to the ground and lick her face comfortingly. "Ah, thanks, Buddy," she said, scratching behind the dog's ears before pulling him into a hug. Zwei whined and nuzzled into her neck, his fur giving Yang a comfortable scratching sensation along her throat. The young woman sighed contentedly, but knew she should probably stand up and continue packing. Unfortunately for her, the dog on her chest had begun to snore loudly. Yang sighed and decided to let Zwei have a couple more minutes of peace. Honestly, she was enjoying it just as much; it would probably be one of the last times she had a chance to be with Zwei until after she'd gotten her arm replaced and tracked down her mother. Yang snugly gripped the fur of the dog and nuzzled into him with a sigh.

Then her Scroll very suddenly, and very loudly, rang out from her pocket. The silence before that had been so comfortable and unending that she shouted out and threw her arm up. Zwei yipped in surprise as her hand, still clenched tight over his fur, flew up and sent the dog flying. He barked as he soared through the air until he landed against the wall above her bed with a dull _thud_. "Zwei!" Yang shouted, sitting up quickly and running towards where she had accidentally thrown the dog. She searched for a moment, ignoring the ringing of her Scroll for a moment while hoping Zwei was okay. She needn't have worried, however, as the unnaturally durable dog popped up from beneath her covers with its natural smile on its face. Yang sighed happily, then straightened up as she remembered her Scroll was still ringing. She reached into her pocket.

"Hello?" she muttered as soon as the device reached her ear.

"Yang!" Ruby's voice screamed into the young woman's ear. Yang yelped and turned down the volume on the Scroll, ear ringing. "How are you!? How is everything going!? Are you still mad at me!? How was your meeting with Aunt Raven!? I can't wait to see you again!"

"Ruby, slow down," Yang said, voice full of laughter at her little sister's excitement. She hooked the device between her shoulder and ear before sitting next to Zwei and scratching his head. "And why would I be mad at you? You saved Haven and destroyed a huge monster! Do you know how good a wing-woman you'll be now?"

"You're not mad?" Ruby asked. A sigh of relief came from the other end of the line. "Then why did you get all scary serious after our last call? You just got that frowny 'I'm a big, angry monster' look you used when I annoyed you as kids and stomped off."

"'I'm a –?' Hey!" Yang shouted indignantly. "I do not. Besides that was my 'Time to kick ass and take names' face."

"I think those are the same..." Ruby muttered quietly.

Yang decided to ignore that. "I decided to take that Atlesian General up on his offer for the robot arm. I needed to train, of course, but now I'll be a Cyborg Badass!" Yang explained. She smiled smugly. "That's twice the badass. And since I was already twice the badass of everyone else, that's _four_ times the badass."

"Says you."

"Says everyone." Yang smirked victoriously. She rolled Zwei over and he snorted as she scratched his stomach again. Yang's smile grew softer and she continued: "I'm coming to help out soon, so you better prepare that boyfriend of yours for a Hurri _Yang_."

"That was... Wow. You've actually gotten _worse_ at making jokes, haven't you? I knew being around Dad would be bad for you," Ruby remarked dryly. Yang made a noise between a growl and a scoff, and Ruby picked up on the anger prevalent in her sister's voice. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"So you knew Mom was coming back and you didn't tell me?"

"Thought it would ruin the surprise?" Ruby suggested lamely. "... Surprise?"

Yang laughed dryly. "Well, it was a good surprise. At least until Dad got involved."

"What!? What did dad do!?" Ruby shouted, nearly deafening her sister again. Her voice lowered like she was trying to keep Taiyang from hearing their Scroll call. "Is... is he dating someone else?"

"No, he just acted like a huge jerk," Yang muttered angrily. Zwei whined when her hand stopped moving and nipped at her fingers until she started to pet him again. Yang sighed in exasperation at the question Ruby would undoubtedly ask, begging her older sister to explain what and how and when and why and where. "Mom showed up while we were training in the forest. Lady just jumped out from behind a tree like she hadn't been missing since I was born. Heh. Dad almost shot her in the face before finding out it was her."

"From what I've seen of her, that would have been bad..." Ruby remarked simply, drawing a laugh from her sister. Ruby laughed back. "She's scarier than Uncle Qrow sometimes."

"Where do you think I get it from?" Yang said, completely serious. She groaned and continued her tale. "After we saw her, I thought it would be good. You know – show up out of the blue, rekindle an old romance, hilarious highjinks surrounding your twenty year old daughter's decision to throw a huge party while you go out for a night on the town."

"So... a movie?" Ruby suggested in confusion.

Yang grunted. "I guess it is a movie," she muttered dryly. Sometimes Ruby just couldn't understand jokes or references. She stopped petting Zwei when her neck began to cramp up, ignoring his whining to move the Scroll to the other ear and shoulder.

"So then... why didn't a movie happen?" Ruby asked. Yang could practically hear the sympathetically comforting look on the younger girl's face.

"Little Sis, how are you still such a kid?" Yang asked. She respected Ruby's ability to refuse changing for the sake of the Darkness in the world. "Most real stories don't have happy endings. Dad got angry and said she'd run away again. That she'd always run away before and it wouldn't stop." Yang's voice had grown bitter as she considered her own friend – she cut off her train of thought. "Said I couldn't handle her staying then running away again. _Me!_ " Yang huffed and lowered her hand to scratch the still irritable Zwei.

"Did they fight? Is that why you're so sad? Mad? AH! _Smad._ " Ruby sounded proud of herself, as if the gibberish she'd just spouted was a real, impressive word. If it wasn't connected to fighting, she didn't care to double check it.

"No, that's not why I'm... s _mad_ ," Yang said, laughing underneath her breath despite the pain that came with the topic of conversation. "It's that she didn't deny any of it. She stood there and let Dad say she would leave, that she would hurt us, and she _didn't_ fight back. She _didn't_ try to prove him wrong. She just decided Dad was right and that she wasn't worth our time!" Yang curled up, hand on her Scroll again. "It felt like she didn't even want to stay." Zwei whined and nuzzled his way into her lap, licking her elbow to calm her. "Why didn't she stay?"

"I bet she's wondering, too, Yang," Ruby supplied, the words and Zwei helping the blonde bombshell to quiet the fears in her mind. The worries that she was why people kept running away. Stupid, she knew, but the biggest fears are often the stupidest ones.

Ruby, even over the CCT line, seemed to understand what was running through her sister's mind and quickly changed the topic. "So, if everything goes right you'll get to meet Sora soon."

Yang smiled and stretched out, much to the joy of the panting Zwei. "Oo-ooh," she singsonged mockingly, troubles at least diverted from her thoughts if not truly forgotten for the moment. "How is your boy toy? Any K-I-S-S-I-N-G going on?" She laughed as the blood audibly rushed to Ruby's cheeks over the Scroll line. "Ha! There _is_ isn't there!"

Ruby mumbled something in response. "I can't wait to meet the boy who convinced Ruby 'Everything's Better Alone' Rose to try a relationship." Yang chuckled. "At least he looks cute enough for you, Rubes. I've been practicing my 'Scary Sister' speech in case he's not good enough, though. What do you think sounds scarier – throwing him weaponless into a pit of Grimm, or breaking his legs and making him listen to Jaune's singing?"

"Yang!" Ruby shouted in disbelief. There was a brief pause. When Ruby's voice returned it was more joking than anything else. "You know we all agreed Jaune's singing is cruel and unusual punishment, no matter the crime!"

Yang laughed heartily at that. "Okay, fine. I guess that means I have to get rid of half the things on my list, then," she joked with her little sister. "Kill joy."

"It's wrong to torture people like that, Yang," Ruby admonished again, only half joking. Jaune's singing could probably melt the bone plate off of a thousand year old Goliath. "How _dare_ you even consider it?"

"It'd be fun to watch," she noted in response. Yang glanced up with a pained look and shivered fearfully. "As long as I had earplugs, at least."

The two girls laughed together for a while, then slowly grew quiet. "You know, if you don't kick enough butt when you take down that Xehanort guy, I'm going to have to make up the difference when you help me start training with my new arm," Yang threatened. "I won't be embarrassed by a little sister who decided to take it easy just because she knows a guy who can shoot fire from a giant key."

"Oh, I think you'll be a little surprised by just how much butt I can kick now, Yang," Ruby replied proudly. "I've got some new tricks you won't be able to touch. I think you should be worried about training with me. I'm a _magical_ genius."

"Not going to even try to understand that one," Yang said simply. She sighed. "Okay _Genius_ , could you say 'Hey' to Qrow for me? And if you see Mom tell her she's a huge idiot for listening to Dad. We're waiting for her to come back, even if the Old Man won't admit it."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Okay, I will, Yang," Ruby said, her face in one of the biggest smiles Sora had seen on her since the dance. She laughed and nodded. "Okay. I love you too, Big Sis. See you soon." With that, the young scythe wielder pulled her Scroll from her face and hung up with no loss of joy.

Sora smiled at her and leaned against a pillar lining the dock where their bullhead had set down, thinking that her conversation with her sister must have gone over really well for this sudden display of joy. For a brief moment, Sora's own joy died down as he remembered that her joy would quickly fade after the battle with Xehanort and Salem. He still was not comfortable with hiding from Ruby that Salem likely was in control of her mother's body, and he would do anything he could to save Summer in his fight with Salem. But he wouldn't risk Ruby's life, even if it meant she hated him for lying or – worse – destroying her mother. He thought he understood why Qrow kept so many important secrets, then, but it didn't make him any less angry with himself for failing to follow through whenever he decided to tell Ruby the truth.

However, Sora decided to shove those thoughts from his head. "So? How did her meeting with Raven go?" Sora asked as Ruby pocketed the device and walked down the dock towards where their group was congregating. Qrow was busy haggling a sale's price for the bullhead, which they would no longer need. The arena itself would be floating back to Haven in a few hours, and Qrow wanted enough money for a fast flight in first class back to Vale. Everyone else was double checking their weaponry and making sure that they would be as ready as possible for the fight to come.

"It didn't," Ruby remarked, her face souring. Sora grimaced. "My dad apparently decided to act like a big baby and ran her off before they could talk!" The young woman growled and stomped her foot. "Urf... why would Dad act like such a... a... damn moron!" She 'eep'ed and covered her mouth. She looked nervously at the ground. "I mean... Oh, I said what I mean!"

"I'm sorry, Ruby," Sora said, standing up and hugging her. He let go after a moment. "How did everything else go? I don't _think_ she's still angry at you, is she? … Is she?"

"Never was apparently. Determined," Ruby explained, grabbing Sora's hand and leading him towards the others. She looked over and began to smile again. "She's going to get a new arm and come help us! Well, with whatever comes next, I guess, since we are going to kick some _butt_ today!"

Sora laughed with her and nodded. "You know it!" he agreed boisterously. He smiled slyly. "Want to make a bet who kicks the most?"

Ruby returned this question with a dry look as retort. "Oh, yeah. A Huntress fighting a magic terrorist she couldn't beat last time or someone who might be the strongest person in the universe going head to head with someone he crushed before all this training. How could that _not_ go my way?"

"You never know!" Sora exclaimed happily. He hugged her with one arm around her shoulder and laughed again. "You were scary before you could use magic, and now? Cinder won't know what to do when you show off your moves. I'd bet any of you could beat her now, but you'll really lay the beat down on her!"

Ruby blushed. "Oh, stop..." she said, and her words fell away to unintelligible mutterings as they usually did when she had been complimented.

"You really think we'll do good too?" Sun asked, appearing beside them in a burst of Aero-based wind. Ruby's cape fluttered from her shoulders in the sudden explosion of air. He crouched nimbly atop one of the pillars lining the dock and grinned down at the now messy haired Sora and Ruby. "Is that more a compliment for us for learning, or for you for teaching us?"

Sora grinned. "... Both?" he suggested with a shrug.

"Impressively handled," Sun complimented, jumping down from the pillar and stuffing his hands in his pockets. "It'll be nice to fight them without getting my ass handed to me."

"And hopefully there's no water this time!" Neptune shouted from the end of the dock, as close to the water as he could be while still being entirely on dry land. His body was stiff as a board. "I will not swim through water to fight anyone. Ever. _Again!_ "

"Okay, buddy. Just calm down!" Sun shouted, waving at his jittery partner. "I know. No more water." Sun turned to Sora and Ruby and grimaced. "I really hope there's no swimming, for his sake. He's barely comfortable using the water gun thing you taught him."

"I can hear that! I am not afraid of it!"

"You can't hear me!" Sun muttered back, gesturing at the large distance between the two.

Neptune growled. "I don't fear you!" he shouted. "Why would I be afraid of you!"

"Ha, I'm right!" Sun muttered, pumping his fist victoriously. "I win. I win. Uh huh. Uh huh. Go Sun!"

"You're worse than Yang," Ruby grumpily told the blonde Faunus. "And _that_ says a lot."

"Let me have this," Sun begged, falling to his knees and clasping his hands. "He's too cool usually!"

Sora laughed. "Fine. I guess you can have this one for now," Sora said, holding his hand out and helping Sun to his feet. The Faunus was smiling at his victory, even if Sora had given it in a combination of pity and joking. Sora let the happiness linger for a moment before letting it end with a dangerous question. "So, how's Jaune doing?"

Sun's face soured into a worried grimace. "He's... better. I guess," Sun half lied. Jaune indeed looked better and calmer, though never when Sora or Qrow were around. When either of them were near, Jaune would grow quiet and cold until they left. "Still really angry. But a little bit better. He still hasn't talked to you, has he?"

Sora cast a glance at Jaune's back and frowned sadly. "No. No he hasn't," the Keyblade Wielder said with a heavy sigh. Despite how he kept shoving the matter from his mind, this kept reminding him of how he was hiding secrets from Ruby. He looked back at Sun and shrugged. "He's stubborn and he won't say sorry until we apologize for whatever we did."

"But you didn't _do_ anything," Ruby pointed out.

Sun nodded in agreement with the young Huntress. "Yeah, you only tried to help."

"What's the saying?" Qrow abruptly cut in as he walked up, sliding a quarter dozen max price Lien cards into his wallet. He traded a momentary, knowing glance full of pain with Sora before continuing. Unlike the young man, he and his sister were nearly masters at compartmentalizing their personal worries and their duties. "'The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.' It doesn't matter who's actually right or wrong to Jaune. Sora thinks he did the right thing, Blondie thinks you sided with me over him."

"But I said you were wrong!" Sora protested, before immediately feeling like a hypocrite when he heard Ruby's laughter. For the thousandth time, he almost caved and told her the truth. And for the thousandth time he froze just before he could when an image of a corrupted Summer murdering her own daughter flashed through his mind.

Qrow sighed and scratched his chin, noting Sora's poorly hidden fear and worry. Unlike the Huntsman, Sora was unprepared to hide the truth around others; lying wasn't really in his blood. "There'll be tons of time to fix all this later," he said, more about what was terrifying Sora than on the topic of the situation they were talking about. He shrugged and crossed his arms. A light sea breeze ran through the air and his cape fluttered before he looked over at his niece. "How'd Yang and Tai's meeting with Rae go? She's been pretty tight lipped about it, and I'll be honest – there's a pretty big reason Tai wasn't our leader. He's kind of an idiot."

"Hey!" Ruby snapped, earning an unapologetic smirk from Qrow. She sighed and let her gaze fall. "Fine. He was an idiot. Yelled at Raven until she ran away and now Yang isn't talking to him. With good reason – there's no guarantee she'd run away again!"

"Oh no. Rae would run away again eventually," Qrow explained bluntly. He looked down at the angry faces of his niece and her friends. "What? I've known the woman since day one – running away from the people she loves is what she does best. When we were eight, she ran away from home for three weeks because she didn't get a pony. When we were in our second year of Beacon she skipped the entire month of Finals after fighting with Tai and we had to beg Oz to let her take them when she got back. Give her a battle or revenge and she will follow through better than anyone. Give her ten minutes of anything emotional and she disappears faster than she can even teleport."

"But she wants to change!" Sora protested.

"And I hope she does. I love Rae. She's my sister, after all," Qrow explained calmly. His Scroll began to beep and he took it from his pocket. Before checking it he sighed sadly. "Ravens don't usually change their colors, though." He looked down and grunted. "Speak of the Grimm. Rae sent me an address for our meet up. Come on."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Xehanort noted that the Grimmlands were what he could easily consider the ugliest place he had ever seen. The sky was deep, star-less black obscured by deep red mists and clouds. Huge, sharp crags erupted from the ground as deep silhouettes so that no one could tell if they were real or merely shadows cast from far away. The ground itself was composed of cracked, dry stone that groaned under every step and exploded into black Dust every time a small vibration erupted. Large, terrible crystals grew from the ground and shined with an energy more Dark than Light. If it were not for the fact that the lack of any Light made the Darkness seem... less, Xehanort might have felt stronger. As it was, it sapped even his strength and will. Salem's little fanatic, however, seemed to grow stronger with every moment spent breathing in the damp, cold air in the the bleak region of the Remnant.

Then Xehanort noted that, suddenly, the air had become markedly warmer and more comfortable. He summoned his weapon to his hand, cursing his bad luck: so close to his goal, with one chance to defeat his most dangerous enemy and _this_ was the moment that Sora had elected to enact his attack on the Dark Keyblade Master. The rip in space appeared a few moments after Sora's energy had signaled his arrival, the red and black vortex opening not far above Xehanort's party. Cinder's gaze followed the old man's and her eyes widened. "Scatter!" she commanded, Emerald and Mercury doing as suggested and running away from the portal. Xehanort moved his Keyblade to his left hand and raised it above him, charging up a reflect wall to try and deflect the brunt of the attack from himself and his... 'allies.'

Yet again, however, he was not prepared for the strength that came through the portal. The strength of the wall shattered suddenly when a Keyblade Wielder slammed into the wall, weapon elongated with a bright blade of white light that illuminated the young man's steely and triumphant gaze. There was a momentary intake of air when the blade and shield connected, the hexagons bending inward under the pressure of Sora's attack. Then, a moment later, the blackened air exploded outward and the glowing wall of energy shattered into a thousand sparks of light.

Xehanort stumbled backwards in surprise and pain, his Keyblade shooting backward and crashing into the ground. Sora fell toward the ground with hands raised above him and the air rippling through his clothes and hair until he landed with a heavy, powerful thud. Black Dust shot outward from the place where he landed, and the young Keyblade Wielder slowly stood up straight. His face became plastered with a grin as the other three began to surround him and ready themselves for battle. Xehanort knew such an act was pointless, as Sora had become far more powerful than any non-Keyblade Wielder could ever hope to become. "Never thought I'd say it's good to see you again, Xehanort," Sora noted, victory shining out from his eyes. The portal above continued to swirl threateningly.

"Boy," Xehanort muttered with a low voice, raising his Keyblade defensively in front of his body. He gestured at the young man's calm, steady, and powerful demeanor. Despite the danger suddenly posed by the young man, Xehanort could not help but smile. Going over the scenarios in his head, the old man came to the conclusion that the appearance of the young man – if handled immaculately – could in fact be considered a boon. He looked around and shook his head, then returned his attention to Sora. "Come now, we both know you are not here alone. There is no point to such a showy entrance."

"You sure about that?" Sora asked. He put one hand on his hip and grinned. "It got you all to stand around like idiots."

Xehanort looked around in surprise. He had noticed, of course, but had not truly taken note of it. In their distraction by the appearance of the large portal above and the subsequent rush to gain an advantage over the lone Keyblade Wielder, the group had been quick to focus on the lone portal above as the source of any future enemy reinforcements. In a matter of seconds, however, portals had opened behind each of Xehanort's group and the old man understood he had underestimated Sora yet again. Flames, ice, and other elements exploded out from these new tears in space towards the four of them.

Xehanort was quick enough to turn and summon a Reflect wall that intercepted the attacks coming his way, a pair of swords that slammed into his defensive barrier and ricocheted over him. A middle aged man and woman with deep black hair landed beside Sora at the ready. One held a blood red katana nearly as long as herself and the other a greatsword of similar length. Both had heavy, scarlet eyes filled with fear they had overcome.

The other members of Xehanort's party, however, were not nearly so lucky. An explosively powerful blast of water slammed into Cinder's back and sent her flying over Sora. Thunder rained from above over Mercury, sending electricity coursing down his spine and locking him in place until a huge hammer crashed into his back. Emerald was thrown similarly when she suddenly found herself floating in the air, suddenly weightless, before a pair of glowing, golden figures crashed into her and exploded. The three warriors soared over Sora and slammed into each other, falling moments later towards the Keyblade Wielder and his allies. The three of them readied their weapons, and unleashed a simultaneous blow as the falling warriors neared. Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald collided with each weapon with a heavy _clang_ before they were sent flying back towards the warriors now standing in front of the quickly closing portals.

Cinder tumbled across the ground and made it to her feet before she stopped moving, sliding to a stop in a crouch right in front of the young Silver Eyed girl with her scythe and a blue haired young man shouldering a gun at her face. Mercury flipped midair and landed heavily in front of the blonde knight – his face a steady scowl – and a young woman who looked incredibly excited to bash Mercury's skull in with a hammer. Emerald herself landed much like her mentor, though considerably less elegantly, only to be greeted by yet another glowing explosion so she tumbled to her feet. A golden haired Faunus with a red and gold bo staff draped across his shoulders and a young warrior in a deep green uniform with pink striped hair. The warriors at Sora's side glanced at each other for a moment, then dashed in different directions – the woman towards Mercury and the man towards Cinder – leaving Sora and Xehanort alone.

And then the battle was upon them. Sora appeared in front of Xehanort in a flash, Keyblade swinging down in a one handed overhead slash. Xehanort raised his Keyblade with a moment to spare, the resulting shower of sparks bathing the two Keyblade Wielders in the heat of their own anger and desire to defeat the other. They pushed as hard as possible, neither willing to give ground but both knowing exactly how the fight would end. "Have you enjoyed my gift, Boy?" Xehanort asked, grunting in exertion as he struggled against the superior strength of the younger man. He fought off an increasingly sharp pain in his left knee and pushed off with it. "Have you found anything interesting in it?"

"You aren't going to distract me with that empty book, Xehanort," Sora responded gruffly. He disengaged their blade lock and spun around the stumbling elder warrior to deliver a sharp blow to Xehanort's lower back – just below where the remains of the **χ** -blade hung. Xehanort tumbled onto his knees and forced himself to his feet in time to deflect a Firaga that Sora had let loose at him. "I'm going to beat you, then I'm going to beat your 'Salem' lackey, and then I'll find my friends."

Xehanort steadied himself and fired a block of black ice, the Dark Blizzaga freezing even the dim light around them. Sora hit it with a Firaga and used the resulting steam as a smoke screen. "I sincerely doubt you will ever find your friends," Xehanort said earnestly. He jumped out of the way of Sora's next attack and tried to counter, only for it to be easily blocked. Sora flicked his wrist and the old man momentarily lost his grip on his weapon. He wheezed in surprise and summoned it back in a burst of shadows to prevent his imminent death at the tip of the younger warrior's Keyblade.

"You can't slow me down with lies," Sora replied, voice resolute. Xehanort sighed – this was pointless.

Elsewhere, the young warriors with whom Xehanort traveled were faring no better than he in their battles. Cinder herself found herself at a substantial disadvantage to Neptune, Ruby, and her Uncle. Despite her use of magic – both Autumnal and Dark – she was losing ever more ground to the Silver Eyed warrior and her allies.

Cinder jumped around another incoming blast of water, trading a blast of flames with its blue haired caster. He groaned and – with a look that showed he was torn between getting hit or nullifying the attack – turned the stream of high powered water on the black flames. There was a huge hiss as the flames and water created a blackened steam cloud, obscuring the blue warrior. But he was a distraction, as Cinder now found herself beset on both sides by scythe wielding Huntsmen. She was stunned by the sudden, twirling attacks that moved almost faster than she could respond to them.

Qrow's weapon was the one that came closest to hitting her at any given moment, forcing her to expend more effort to deal with his attacks than with Ruby's, which in turn allowed her much more dangerous attacks – ones cloaked in flames and ice and Light – to inch ever closer to her. Cinder back flipped over the next one of Red Riding Hood's attacks and constituted huge glass shards from the ground. After a moment, they were drenched in black lightning and red flames that she sent at the two scythe wielders.

Ruby turned into a torpedo of red and roses, disappearing and reappearing a moment later a dozen yards away to fire at Cinder with her sniper rifle. Qrow merely returned his weapon to greatsword form and allowed the shards to crash into the flat of his blade harmlessly. From there, he activated the shotgun in his blade and fired at the woman from the other side.

Cinder remained in the air, flames bursting into existence at the base of her heels to keep her aloft, and summoned powerful barriers to her hands to block the projectiles of Dust energy. Protecting herself from the two scythe wielders, however, had left Cinder wide open to other attacks. A powerful stream of water crashed into her chest again, this time electrified. She shouted out in pain, her body seizing up under the assault. Bullets slammed into her body until the electricity stopped. She hit the ground, though the stream of water had not stopped, just slowed, and was keeping her drenched. A half moment later, the water was frozen over from its source and Cinder was left half-conscious and frozen in a block of ice.

Mercury, meanwhile, was faring the worst. His skill in battle was considerably less than Cinder, despite the fact that it was indeed great. This meant that, when confronted with the new magical abilities of Nora and Jaune, alongside the incredible skill of Raven Xiao Long, he was being quickly and easily defeated.

It was all he could do to dodge the devastatingly fast attacks coming from the adult woman's katana, the black and red moving just as fast as he could at top speed. Her face was a steady snarl, and it became clear that the woman held a more personal animosity for him than for his compatriots. "Don't tell me I kicked your puppy," Mercury said, trying to get the woman to say _something._ All he got for his troubles was a blade lock with his boot that ended with a hammer colliding with his skull. He flipped in place, and was upside down when he felt a triangular block of metal crash into his chest and send him right back at the hammer. It crashed into him and he landed face down in the Dust. There was a sudden upward pull as a glowing orb of light dragged him upward magnetically, spinning him around until he could barely think. As soon as the spinning ceased, there was a sudden, cold pain in his prosthetic legs preceded by a bright red flash. He crashed and tumbled aura-less across the ground again, followed by the smoking remains of his robotic legs. "Dammit!" he cursed before looking up at the smugly satisfied face of Raven Xiao Long. He grinned nervously. "Um... Best two out of three?" His answer was blackness brought about by a hammer to the face.

" _That_ was for Ren!" Nora snapped, slamming the base of her weapon into the Dusty ground.

Emerald struggled to use her illusions and the magic she had learned against the equally quick and crafty fighters with whom she was faced. The golden maned Faunus was the warrior fighting in close, using a powerful Aero to bolster his defense and deflect any of her attacks that came his way. It was, admittedly, an extremely clever way to nullify the immediate benefits of her illusions. He did not have to worry if the attacks that she sent his way were real or not, as the real ones would be deflected by the buffeting winds long before they could have reached him. All the while, he was using his pair of gunchuks to slowly erode her Aura and give the green one time to fire off poisoned Dust bullets that weakened her even further.

She tried to unleash a few illusions at the green one, but was stopped short when a ball of golden energy collided with her. Suddenly, up was left, down was up, right was inside. Nothing made any sense. Colors were wrong, depth was off, and shapes were melting. When she tried to move her fingers, she ended up crouching. She could feel in the back of her mind that this was some sort of magic the green one had hit with her before she could hit him with. An illusion of its own. She was snapped out of it when a bo staff slammed into her midsection and sent her crashing on top of Mercury.

Sora grinned as he saw the last of his friends' opponents go down. Xehanort did as well, despite his anger that his pawn had been defeated. "You trained them to use magic. And in such a short amount of time!" he shouted exuberantly, almost proud of the young man, as he tried to block the blade of Sora's weapon. He failed and stumbled to the side, one hand raised to create a small but dense reflect wall that deflected the incoming death blow. Xehanort grimaced in pain and worked to his feet again. "They may be ready for what is to come, if you have me."

"We don't need your help." Sora shouted. He broke through the Reflect and Xehanort roared in pain as every bone in his frail left hand shattered simultaneously. He fell back to his knees and dismissed his weapon to clutch at his wrist.

Xehanort looked up at the panting Sora, who had paused to glare down at him. "Salem is beyond you alone. Beyond your friends," Xehanort explained through his pain. His yellow eyes were full of worry. "You believe me a monster. Fine. But I want existence. Light _and_ Darkness must exist. She desires only Darkness. We could be allies against her. We _must_ be allies against her."

"Why? I beat you," Sora responded bravely.

"You think..?" Xehanort laughed dryly and said, "Give me the boy. The Darkness radiates from him. He could be of use to you but only if his body is mine. Weigh everything that remains against his life. The Remnant, it is closer to what I want than anything before it. Light and Darkness, struggling for power. Nearly equal. It cannot be allowed to die. It is all that remains, Boy. We have been gone far too long for you to rely on your dead friends to save you."

Sora narrowed his eyes. "You're lying," he growled, denying the old man's claims. Sora's Keyblade rose into the air. "And I'd never let you have anybody, especially not one of my friends." He looked up and took a deep breath. " _Magneza!_ "

Xehanort gasped as a blinding, black and yellow orb of force pulled him upward at a speed much greater than he had expected. He yelled, the forces as he approached the epicenter beginning to tear him apart. There were more cries of surprise and pain as those he had traveled with slammed into him, spinning nearly as quickly as his body. They slammed into each other over and over, destroying each other.

Then the attacks began.

Xehanort saw, even through the violent spinning, a streak of red surrounded by swirling flames slam into Cinder's ice covered body. Bolts of lightning crashed into all of them, followed by a black and red streak – Raven. Explosive clones of the Faunus collided with each of them, slamming them into each other over and over again. A stream of water hit them from below as the Magneza died out, sending them flying upward into a wall that Xehanort could only describe as a Refleza – the energy of the barrier generating painful attacks of Light that electrocuted the four of them and sent them towards the ground. As they fell, they were riddled with poison bullets so they could not recover.

Then they were confronted with the last thing they saw before they blacked out completely – a huge, glowing hammer of gold and silver formed from the magically transformed Kingdom Key. It slammed into their collective forms and they slammed, unconscious, into the stony visage of a darkened and destroyed mountain.

Sora and his friends dropped from another portal nearby and readied their weapons, anticipating some sort of retaliation by the group of villains and mass murderers. No such attack came, and the group lowered their weapons. "We did it," Sora said, quiet triumph resonating in his voice.

"Indeed you did."

Sora and the others whirled around and readied for battle yet again, only to be faced with what could only be described as a huge problem – a wall of purple, white and pink swirling energy. A portal. It flew forward before any of them could react further, and the Light consumed them for a moment to be replaced by... pretty much an identical area to where they had been before. It was hard to tell in the Grimmlands' ruined landscape whether they had moved, but the mountain they had been near moments before was now miles away.

More important than _where_ they were, was the _who_ was with them. Sora felt another indescribable pang of familiarity when he saw the imprisoned man, whose arms were encrusted in the purple gemstones native to the area, a long gray beard disguising the weary pain from his face that was apparent in his shoulders. He wore a green vest with a gray dress shirt beneath it. A pair of broken spectacles hung from his ears, one of the emerald green lenses shattered and empty. His head slowly turned and his eyes became filled with horror at the new presence of his allies, his eyes fixed on Ruby's resolute face.

Sora understood why, and locked his gaze on the other person present on the temple like plateau upon which Ozpin was restrained. The woman was incredibly pale, skin nearly melting into the color of the energy around her palm, save for the deep black veins snaking their way up and down her skin. She was wearing a deep black and blood red dress that seemed to melt into the shadows beneath her feet, a cape rolling down her shoulders behind it that draped to the floor as well. Her eyes were blood red, but the more surprising part was that the region that should be white was instead as black as night. Her hair was pure white and done up in a looping design that was incredibly familiar to Sora – it hit him after a few moments and he looked over at Jaune out of the corner of his eye. He had seen this woman's hairstyle once before, a silhouette present in Jaune's Dive to the Heart. He shook his head and decided he didn't know what that could mean, despite the fear worming around in his gut.

But most worrisome was that Qrow had been right. The angle of her chin, the shape of her eyes. It was incredibly close to the structure of Ruby's own face, if it had been twisted by a sneer of disgust and condescension. Of an all consuming hatred for everything, and a distinct lack of any sort of sanity in her gaze. He only saw it because he knew what he was looking for, but it was clearly there. He looked over his shoulder and saw that, to his relief, Ruby did not recognize her. She hadn't seen her mother since she was two, maybe, and beyond that she didn't even know to suspect. She was safe.

"Ah, the Master of the Keyblade. The great and powerful Sora!" Salem said, the energy around her hand fading slowly. Her face lit up in excitement as her gaze traced over all the other memebrs of his group. "You are looking for me, correct? Congratulations! You've found me!" She walked down the steps of the plateau that she shared with her captive, each step like the movement of a shadow, quiet and sleek. "Now, you probably want a prize for your success, for keeping Hope so long that you'd find your precious Ozpin and save the Remnant. Well, your reward is that I'm offering you a chance to surrender and serve me. Think it over for a moment."

"Run!" the man that Sora now assumed was Ozpin shouted.

"Not until we take her down," Sora said, stepping past Ruby and deciding that – if he got the chance at least – he'd take the battle into Salem's Heart to try and free Ruby's mom. If he could give her that, maybe the lie wouldn't matter... The Keyblade Wielder readied his weapon and narrowed his eyes at Salem. "I'm not letting any bad guys win."

"Even if it means you never see your friends again?" the witch retorted, a cruel grin deepening on her face. Sora felt his heart flutter with pain; why did that sound so... final?

Sora clenched his eyes for a moment, then opened them with new resolution, ignoring that it was Ruby's mom up there. "You're going down, Salem."

The witch smiled, appearing far more lucid than she had moments before. "Oh, am I? I can't wait to see how that happens. Come and get me, Keyboy."

Sora roared angrily and ran towards Salem with weapon raised. She smiled and clasped her hands in front of her, grinning evilly down at Sora and relishing in Ozpin's pleas for the young man to not do this alone, to not do this without an army of Keyblade Wielders at his back. Sora had been underestimated a thousand times before and surprised everyone each time. Why would he stop now? "Oh, this is going to be fun," Salem muttered, twisting slightly so that her hand was pointed directly away from Sora, channeling power through it until it began to glow with the power of Light. Then she brought it forward and a beam of light shot towards the young man. "And I rarely have any fun."


	20. Dying Light

_**Chapter 20: Dying Light**_

Sora roared and continued to run, alone, towards Salem with his weapon raised. The Keyblade was burning with the Light of his Heart, a blade erupting from its surface to elongate the weapon into a huge blade of power. He brought it down in front of him in a powerful, two handed slash that crashed into the incoming beam of Light. The young man was taken aback by the incredible resistance the energy attack exerted against his weapon, a testament to the sheer power of the woman behind the attack. Nonetheless, Sora was able to bring the Keyblade down all the way and bisect the energy. The two halves flew away through the bloody mist, one eventually crashing into the far off mountain and turning the once huge stone into glowing ash. Sora glanced down – he had slid backwards through the dirt almost four feet from the sheer force of the blast.

Sora shook it off and ran right at Salem once again, this time firing off Firagas at where Salem stood. She merely clasped her hands in front of her, red and black eyes intently studying the abilities of the young man opposite her. As the burning balls of magic came near her, she raised one hand lazily and flicked her wrist. Four small hexagons of Light appeared directly in the paths of the Firagas, and the explosions all bounced right back towards Sora.

The Keyblade Wielder's eyes widened and he flipped over the first to reach him, burying the tip of his weapon into the attack to send it into the ground. From there he twirled in midair and slapped the next two away with a single blow before raising a Reflega to block the last one. He landed in a roll, the four explosions expanding behind him like a wild fire. There was a loud _ding_ as the explosions hit a wall – Sora realized that it was one of those containing barriers his enemies used against him when they wanted to deal with him alone. That just meant he didn't have to worry about accidentally hurting his friends.

At this point, Sora was probably only a few steps away from where Salem stood. "Do not think to limit yourself against me, Child," Salem demanded, hand glowing as she raised it suddenly. Sora dove to the side as the hair on the back of his neck began to stand up, narrowly avoiding a deadly explosion of Light that shot straight up from the ground. Unfortunately for him, he rolled right into another and shouted out in pain as he was sent flying a few feet upwards.

He righted himself quickly, however, and the Keyblade began to glow with power. Sora raised it above his head and roared, throwing it right at the woman. The Keyblade flew at her, spinning like a saw. She leaned slightly to the side, avoiding the Keyblade that was coming her way effortlessly. Sora hit the ground and brought his hand back. There was a flash and the Keyblade returned so he could throw the weapon at her again. Again, she moved around the attack. Sora tried again and again, only for the woman to easily dodge the series of attacks as if they were barely moving.

When the Keyblade came towards her for the final time, Salem fired off a thin beam of light towards the young man, sidestepping the Strike Raid as she did. The blast hit Sora square in the chest and he tumbled backwards. The Keyblade flashed into his hand, tip buried in the ground to slow his path through the Dust, only stopping completely when his heel tapped against the barrier holding him in. The young man scrabbled to his feet and dashed out of the path of another stream of energy. The Dust where he had been standing a moment before was incredibly flammable and, despite his dodge, the resulting explosion sent him flying away again. With a start, he realized that he might have made a big mistake facing this Salem person so thoughtlessly.

Sora spun midair, casting a Cure to heal his wounds and get back in the fight. He glanced over his shoulder at his friends, who were pounding whatever they could against the wall. He turned back to Salem and slowly raised his weapon to a defensive position, trying to stay ready for whatever it was that the woman would throw his way next. Nothing she had done so far could compare to what he'd faced before, so he'd just have to play this smarter than he thought. That was no problem. "You're better than Xehanort's usually cannon fodder," Sora said with a mocking smile. He aimed the blade towards her. "But I've beaten the man himself more than once."

"'Xehanort's..?'" Salem asked, the glow around her hand disappearing. She clasped them behind her back and took a few steps toward Sora. "You believe _I_ am... what, an unruly pawn of his?"

"Well, I did," Sora explained. He let the Keyblade dip a little and he shrugged nervously while scratching his chin. "But what you just said is giving me some doubts."

"Sora, she is not -"

"Oh, don't ruin the surprise, Oz," Salem commanded. Without looking, she fired off a stream of ice that froze the man's mouth shut, then grinned at the grunts that replaced his words. "Not when the questions this child is asking are all about yours truly. Revealing a woman's secrets, Oz? Is chivalry dead?"

Salem took a few more steps towards Sora, only stopping once he raised his weapon again. She raised her hands in front of her. "Oh, please. Don't hurt me," she said mockingly, waving her hands from side to side. Salem laughed and let her arms fell, lacing her fingers together. She smiled calmly and cocked her head to the side. "Sora, you have entered a tier of skill and power far beyond someone as simple and weak as Xehanort. Cast aside hope, Boy. To fight me would be stupidity, not bravery."

Sora narrowed his eyes and cast a look over his shoulder. His friends were trying in vain to get through the barrier between them, pained looks present especially on the faces of the Branwen twins. Seeing their friend like this was... difficult. "I'm fighting because it's right," Sora said simply. He took a few steps forward and steeled himself for another bout with Salem. The young man lowered his hand to his pocket and pulled out a pellet of white Dust.

Sora clenched his fist and reached into the place in his Heart where his power was held, the resulting shock of energy channeling through his body and eliciting a huge flash of light and the creation of a temporary Reflega wall. Sora appeared moments later in his Final Form, Keyblades floating across his back surrounded by blindingly white auras. The ground beneath his hovering feet shuddered and he altered his gravity, firing off like a bullet towards Salem. "Disappointing, but understandable," Salem muttered boredly. She held her arms out to her sides, black sleeves draping like shadows from Summer's thin arms. "Show me what amounts to a Keyblade Master now."

Sora roared and slashed upward with his hands, crossing them over his chest. The Keyblades followed suit, both of them swirling in front of him to slash across the chest of the woman. She did not even bother to move that time, allowing the two weapons to crash into her and slice through the abdomen of her clothes. Her white skin appeared in an 'X' and the black of her dress frayed where it was torn, but Sora had already moved on to his next attack. The twin Keyblades spun around his back and he grabbed one with his right hand, locking its teeth with those of the other and landing a heavy attack on Salem's face. Her head snapped to the side and Sora brought his hand back quickly to land the locked together blades on her nose. Again, no actual damage was dealt to the woman's form.

Sora growled to himself and floated upward to charge his next attack away from the woman. She turned her head slowly towards him, smiling as his hands and Keyblades each began to glow with an orb of light each. Salem did nothing besides that, however, merely standing in place and clasping her hands behind her again. Sora wordlessly shoved his hands forward, the four orbs firing off thin streams that merged together and shot towards Salem as one, incredibly powerful beam.

When it got close enough, however, the woman slowly raised one of her hands to where the attack would meet her. The stream collided with her hand and... nothing happened. The Light energy began to disappear, as if it had never existed, and her dark smile grew wider. "Certainly not the _best_ I have ever seen," she muttered, closing her hand and causing the last vestiges of Sora's assault to disappear, "but neither is it laughable. This 'Mickey' character taught you well.

"But, as I said, you are now amongst a group of warriors with whom you cannot compare." The Light that had disappeared a moment before suddenly reappeared behind Sora, crashing into the small of his back and slamming him into the ground with enough force to suddenly ignite the Dust covering the ground. The explosion sent him reeling yet again, this time landing him squarely at the feet of Salem. She crouched down and grabbed his hood, which was no longer the bright white that his Final Form generated. Pulling the semi conscious boy up to eye level, she sighed, "Sad, because you do show potential, if only slightly." She raised her other hand and the wall surrounding them disappeared; Sora's allies stumbled forward, eyes wide with fear. Their big gun had just been taken down with next to no damage at all dealt to the woman. Salem glanced down at them and tossed the young man she was holding, his Keyblade flying out of his hand as he soared and burying itself in the ground. He rolled to a stop at Ruby's feet, barely half conscious.

"That was intriguing, at the very least," Salem muttered, once again bored by everything going on. She looked over at Ozpin, whose gaze had fallen to the ground with closed eyes. His shoulders were still and low. "What do you think, Oz? I know we've been watching the boy, but seeing two Keyblades in person is much more interesting than seeing it in a portal of Darkness." She walked towards the group of would be heroes and reached down to pull Sora's Keyblade from the ground.

She was cut off when a sniper bullet riddled with Sparks slammed into her chest and exploded violently. Salem sighed in boredom and looked over at the young woman and her smoking sniper-scythe. "Don't touch that!" Ruby Rose snapped, eyes glowing with bright silver wings. Salem scoffed and ignored the Keyblade, instead walking towards Ruby Rose. The witch's hand glowed with a black aura and the Black Dust on the ground began to swirl, eventually forming a hatchet in her right hand and another in her left. Ruby and the others, despite the courage in their hearts, began to stumble backwards from the shark like glint in Salem's eyes. "Stay away!"

"I think I'm going to enjoy this," Salem said, eyes locking on Qrow and Raven especially. She slowly slammed the backs of both weapons together, moving by muscle memory, to create much larger two handed ax. The weapon was swiftly raised above her right shoulder, and then she brought it down to sweep away the children arrayed against her and show them the futility of their resistance.

Just as the weapon came close to colliding with the first of the warriors, there was a bright flash. The huge ax was stopped in its tracks by a slightly bloodied young man with a gold and white Keyblade. "Ruby, heal Xehanort."

"What! You want to fight both of th-" Jaune began to shout incredulously. Sora shot a look over his shoulder as he struggled against the overwhelming weight of Salem's attack.

Ruby looked between the unconscious old man and Sora, who was only using his left arm; his right dangled at an odd angle by his side. "Go!" he shouted. "Wind!" The blast of the Aeroga sent the others sliding away, if only marginally. Ruby used the added momentum to launch into her Semblance, despite her misgivings, and was soon landing beside Xehanort with green light flashing in her wake.

 _ **R W B Y**_

The first thing that Xehanort noticed was the dull pain in his left arm. The entire limb was buzzing, and he knew that he couldn't feel anything else in the arm even if it were being stabbed. His Replica body was finally reaching the end of its life. But, oddly enough, it wasn't giving out yet. _He_ wasn't giving out yet. There was too much left to do. "Wake up, Old Guy!" a young woman shouted. There was a dull thud – his left hand hitting the ground, if he was correct – and then a sharp slap across his face.

Xehanort's yellow eyes flew open, and he was greeted by the visage of a worried young woman with glowing Silver eyes. "Princess?" Xehanort muttered in confusion, forgetting where he was for a moment. He looked around and realized what must have happened. The Fallen Keyblade Master struggled to his feet and looked over the young woman's head. Tan skin became as pale as the young woman's – Sora was dangling from Salem's outstretched hand with Keyblade buried in the ground beside him. "This is..."

"Help him..." Xehanort looked down at the source of the voice and sighed. "Please."

There was a brief, tense pause. Xehanort cast his eyes to the ground and growled angrily. "I have no choice but to do so. The fool accelerated my plans," Xehanort explained coolly. He raised his hand out to his side and the air turned a deeper shade of black specked with white, giving way to the twisted metal of his ancient Keyblade. With the weapon, he gestured at his traveling companions. "Get your friends and these children away. I still have uses for all of you."

"I'm helping," Ruby responded, twirling her weapon over her shoulders.

"And allow you to die? It was Fate we met, young woman," Xehanort explained, stepping in front of the Silver Eyed warrior, "and I will not consign myself to another decades long search for the Heart of a Princess."

"Wh-"

But Xehanort was already at Salem's side, confident that the young woman would listen – at least for now. He began by swinging his Keyblade as hard as he could at Salem's head. Even in his weakened state, the strength behind the blow was considerable. It met a fleshy mark, but it was not that of an ancient witch but of a young Keyblade Master. Sora screamed out in pain as Xehanort's Keyblade slammed into his midsection and he crashed into the ground. From behind his prone body, Salem – smirking the entire time – lanced out with her Dust ax into Xehanort's throat. He ducked beneath the attack, barely, and was rewarded with a Dark Firaga to the head.

Xehanort tumbled across the ground and slowed to a stop on his chest. "GAH!" he shouted as a Sora sized item slammed into his back and bounced off of him.. There was a quiet crack inside his spine. Thankfully only a fracture, not a complete break. "Dammit!"

"Xehanort, have you been filling this poor boy's head with lies all this time?" Salem asked as she slowly approached, dragging the ax along the ground behind her. It made a sharp, grinding noise when the rocks beneath the Dust scratched against the weapon's edge. "You are the most powerful Keyblade Wielder in the World? That you taught _me_? That I belong to _you_?" She sighed and placed her foot atop Xehanort's back, eliciting another scream of pain. She slid her foot to the side and slowly picked up the weapon strapped to his back. "At least you did one thing I asked you." She examined the **χ** -blade with a disdainful look. "Barely."

"What?" Sora asked, struggling to his feet. "You're -"

"Yes, that would be correct. _I_ am the one who gave Xehanort all of the information that led to who his Fall, if you will. I suppose that makes me his teacher, in a way," Salem said, kicking Xehanort to the side. She dropped the ax and it faded away into Dust before it even hit the ground, much like a Grimm would have. With her now free hand she telekinetically lifted the old man to his knees.

"You betrayed me, Xehanort. I do not look kindly on that," she muttered, a livid snarl stretching across her face as she stared down at the man. She growled to let out her anger, and then smiled over at Ozpin. "Children, am I right? They always act so stupid." Salem sighed and looked down at the swaying man. "I suppose I better punish you for your bad behavior, Boy."

Xehanort laughed, a low, guttural noise. His voice came out as a wheeze when he spoke: "You can kill me... But I will die knowing... you're too insane to succeed."

"Hmph..." Salem said, nodding imperceptibly at his words. "I suppose, but it would take one to know one, wouldn't it?" Then she buried the broken blade in the chest of the kneeling warrior. His breath escaped in a pained gurgle, followed quickly by blood that oozed down his chin. Salem 'Hmph'ed again and sighed. "Sadly I cannot have you die just yet. You still have _a_ use in my plans." She raised her hand toward the dying man and a brilliant, white light flashed in her palm. A moment later, Xehanort was frozen solid. She shrugged and cast another spell, a Stop spell as backup to keep him alive.

"Now for the dashing young man over here," the witch said with a grin before turning towards Sora. The young Keyblade Wielder was already on his feet, eyes hard.

"Sora, run!" Ruby shouted, appearing beside him in a cloud of rose petals and wind. Her scythe was pointed away from Salem and over her shoulders, the blade on fire. Her eyes were set with cool anger.

"Let me... deal with this," Sora panted as he leaned against his weapon. There was a flash of green light and he raised his newly healed left arm in front of Ruby. Salem recognized the pain in the young man's eyes, and realized he _knew_.

 _Delicious_ , Salem thought with a smile.

"Sora..." Ruby muttered. Her weapon sagged from her shoulders. "She's too strong."

"Just one more chance," Sora said pleadingly. His eyes said it was more for her sake than his. "I can... win."

"No," Ruby said, shouldering her weapon again. "I'm not letting you do this alone."

"That's your mom."

The young woman went silent, her irises shifting back and forth quickly as she processed that information. Her weapon fell to the ground beside her. Her Heart knew he was correct when she looked over at Salem again, but her mind would not accept this possibility. "You... No. No, you're wrong. My mother is _dead_. We buried her."

"Not quite," Salem cut in, one finger up. She scoffed and smiled contentedly. "This is her body, but Summer Rose is not home right now. And I don't believe that I can leave a message. She's a little... tied up at the moment."

"You can't fight your mom, Ruby," Sora said, hollowly getting ready to fight the body stealing witch. "And I'm sorry. I should have told you. But it sounds like she's in there, which means I can get her out."

"If you jump into my Heart? Believe me, it's not a place for human eyes; I doubt that Summer is even sane by this point. They never are," Salem warned. She glanced over at the young woman and waved mockingly. "Run along. We'll have time to play tea later, sweetie."

"Shut up!" Sora shouted, dashing toward the woman and slashing down diagonally with a glowing blade. He meant to break the chains holding Summer Rose hostage and binding her to Salem. He would not even get a chance.

Salem raised her hand. It was a simple movement, with no magic or power behind it. No flashy ability that would save her trouble or defend her from the attack. But this _was_ a movement that had deep meaning to it, deep and irrevocable meaning, as it signified that Sora had never had a chance against Salem. Even if Sora had been a thousand times stronger than she, he would have lost merely by bringing the weapon that he did into their battle.

When the Keyblade met her hand, the Light surrounding it vanished and it shivered in Sora's two handed grip. The Keyblade Wielder glanced down at the weapon then brought it back and slashed from the other direction at Salem's head. Before it even touched her hair, the Kingdom Key stopped itself as if it had a mind of its own. Sora glanced between the woman and his weapon. "Wh-wha-?" He shook his head and brought it back one more time. He shifted his grip, Salem letting him take his time. Then he jumped forward to stab directly into the woman's chest.

Salem raised her right hand out to her side and blinked once. When the Keyblade began to come into contact with her chest, it slowly began to disappear in a flash of light that traveled down the length of the weapon as it came closer and closer to her chest. At the same time, the tip of the weapon began to appear in a bright flash just beyond the woman's right hand. Slowly, the entire weapon disappeared from Sora's hand and came to rest in the outstretched fist of Salem. "What..?" Sora asked, staring blankly at his empty, outstretched hands. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands, willing the Keyblade return to his grasp. It did not. "That's not -"

"Possible? Hm... it's quite possible actually," the woman responded, letting the weapon fall to her side. "I did create it, after all." With her free hand, she backhanded Sora to the ground. He did not resist, did not fight back. He was far too surprised by what had just happened to do _anything_ , at that moment. He lay spread eagled on the ground, dazed eyes glaring up at the sky, and Salem placed the tip of his own weapon on his chest. He shook himself from his stupor and began to vainly fight against the pressure she was exerting.

" _LEAVE HIM ALONE!_ " Salem glanced up lazily at the source of the voice and saw a swirling vortex of flowers and flames streaking toward her. Salem laughed to herself and brought the Kingdom Key up as fast as she could, at a speed that even Ruby could not match. There was a resounding crack, and Ruby shouted out in pain.

"RUBY!" Qrow screamed, running forward after her. Salem looked over and raised her left hand to raise a wall around the other fighters to keep them trapped. The man ran headfirst into it at full speed and immediately found himself unconscious.

Salem turned around to where the red bullet had landed, surrounded by the shattered fragments of her scythe weapon. The blade was buried in the Dust to her left and the handle was cut in two buried either near her head or feet. She glanced between Sora and the slowly recovering Ruby then decided that neither would be a problem. She looked over at the group that she had captured, shrugged, then walked towards them.

"Wh- I..." Qrow muttered as he woke up. He glanced around groggily and his eyes widened when he locked gazes with the terrified Raven. "No. Rae, no. Rae, don't -" But she had already turned around and carved through space, jumping through alone and leaving her allies to their fate. "DAMMIT, RAVEN!"

"Abandoned by Ozpin's spy. I wish I could say I didn't see _that_ one coming, but I remember most of the things Summer does. _All_ of her thoughts, Dusty Old Crow," Salem taunted as she neared. She stopped and raised her reclaimed Keyblade before leveling it at Jaune. "You. You're full of Darkness, aren't you? Oh, I don't mean to insult you. I personally want to see what _only_ Darkness would look like. It would be so interesting, wouldn't it? Unlike the rest of these... children and fools, you have promise."

Jaune glanced around, eyes hardening as they passed over Qrow and Sora. "Go to hell!" he snapped, holding his sword in front of him. "I won't betray my friends!"

"Even if they betrayed you..?" Salem smiled and swept the Keyblade to the side. The wall of Light flashed around the group and, suddenly, Jaune was pushed out to stand alone with the ancient warrior. She smiled calmly and looked around before she finally pointed at Xehanort's frozen form. "Do you know what that weapon buried in Xehanort's gut can do?"

Jaune kept his weapons raised in front of him and didn't respond. He was rather good at keeping that same steely and angry glare that would be heroes had before they were corrupted forever.

"At the moment? _Nothing._ Sad, but true," she explained. She began pacing and smiled. "But if I complete it, it can do _anything_. For instance, create worlds or destroy them. Alter reality. Even, well, revive the dead."

Jaune's weapons dipped for a moment. "I've been watching you. All of you, but especially you. You have promise, like I said," Salem explained. She stopped pacing and dismissed the Keyblade from her hand. "Which is why I want to make a deal. You said that you would do _anything_ to get that young woman back? Remember, at the dance with Sora. 'I would do anything to get her back.' Would you work with those you hate, the ones who killed her, if it meant saving her?"

"No..."

"So you didn't love her!" Salem pointed out disapprovingly. She shook her head as if deeply disappointed in the young man. "You never cared for her at all if you believe that people like Ruby and Ren and Nora and Sora – people who betrayed you – are more important that Pyrrha Nikos. Shameful, really."

"No, I -"

"You don't love her enough to do _anything_ for her," Salem continued. She shook her head in mock sadness. "And here I thought I could help you bring her back, help you save her from her Destiny. And all for something as small as your loyalty. But I was wrong – you want her dead, don't you?"

"Shut up!" Jaune snapped, stepping forward and jabbing his sword towards Salem.

"Understand that I don't _need_ you. And I could kill you quite easily," Salem stated so seriously that Jaune froze. "But I _want_ to make a deal. And that is good news for you. Great news, in fact, because I _will_ bring her back." The Keyblade reappeared again, though the blade was in her hand and the handle was pointed at Jaune Arc. "And on top of that I can make you the strongest warrior in the universe, bar me. I bet your 'friend' Sora never told you, but you can wield a Keyblade. I saw inside your Heart. It was that of a Keyblade Wielder." She held the weapon's hilt out towards Jaune. "Help me and I will release that ability within you. Right. _Now_." She tapped the weapon's hilt against Jaune's chest and he began to pant heavily as he was suddenly confronted with the possibility of fulfilling his two greatest dreams.

"Jaune, no..." Sora gasped, finally struggling to his hands and knees. "You can't. She's lying. She's dead, and bringing her back cannot happen!"

"Maybe, says the man who has already lied to the woman he loves about her own mother! Can you believe him ever? At all? Trust him with anything!?" Salem asked. She dismissed the Keyblade once more and snaked around to stand behind Jaune, placing one hand on the small of his back and the other on his left shoulder. She leaned in to his ear and whispered with a cruel smile. "If you decide to help me, I would bring her back. I would fix _everything_ that is broken, and you could finally save and get the girl. Just. Like. A. **Hero."**

That was enough, the only promises that could break Jaune's resistance to her manipulations. Jaune's weapon fell to the ground, as did his shield. Salem smiled. "Very wise decision," Salem said, standing up straight. She removed her hand from between his shoulder blades and walked towards Sora, who was staring at the ground filled with familiar pain. "Are you okay, Sora?"

"I'll stop you," he said, returning a steely gaze to Salem's own.

"Really? I have your only weapon, the only thing that made you special? With what Keyblade could you possibly fight me?" she asked, looking around as if she had received surprising news. "Did you suddenly make one? No, you don't seem the type to fracture a pure Heart and sew the pieces back together in a new shape. Or, didn't you wonder why they could make decisions and become linked to others? Why they were alive? They are copies of the **χ** -blade after all, and it was forged from twenty Hearts."

"That's not..." Sora shook his head. "Then... Then my friends will stop you!" he shouted, pushing himself up to his feet and clutching at his side. Blood was oozing out from between his fingers.

Salem rolled her eyes. "Them?" she asked, gesturing with her thumb at the trapped warriors. "One ran away, another joined the winning team, one is unconscious, and the rest can't really move. That's not going to be much of a threat to me."

"No. My other friends. R-"

"Riku and Kairi and Mickey? I heard all your sickeningly saccharine stories. Unfortunately for you, they are all dead. _Long_ dead."

"Xehanort told me the same lie," Sora said adamantly, though his bravery was slipping. Or maybe that was just his consciousness giving way to blood loss.

"Lie..?" Salem shook her head and raised her hand. From Sora's pocket flew a small, black rectangle. A book, with a Key adorning the front. She flipped through the pages for a moment, then nodded in approval and walked over to Sora. She threw one arm around his shoulders and used her free hand to hold the page open in front of his face, thumb over a specific location. "What does this say?"

Sora growled, but read the line anyways:

" _The Heart of a world is reflected in its sky. At least, that's one explanation: since all Worlds originally were one, their Hearts echo the same things in their skies. It's why they all share one sky-"_

"Now do you understand that your friends are dead?" Salem interjected as she shoved off from Sora's shoulders. She cocked her head to the side upon catching sight of his determined glare. "You're smart, so you've seen it. This means you're lying to yourself. Look up, what do you see? A fractured moon. Tell me, did this... 'Halloween Town' have a fractured moon? What of any of the worlds you visited?"

"..." Sora didn't respond. He was trying to fight off the thoughts beginning to plague his mind.

"No?" Salem supplied. She nodded. "So what do we know? All worlds share one sky. The Remnant's moon has been shattered for... a dozen centuries, at least. Ergo... your friends have been dead for... a dozen centuries, at least! You see, that moon is Kingdom Hearts, shattered when its guardian – instead of returning to it after being destroyed by a stupid young man – was instead sent millennia into the future. I don't care much for what happened next, personally, but you're probably wondering. The Remnant is all that remains now, fragments of worlds that nearly faded away completely into the Nothingness – not even Darkness, you stupid fool – when Kingdom Hearts _died_ instead of disappearing. The Realm of Darkness – this is all that's left. Everything else... the Realm of Light was bigger, if what Xehanort told me is to be believed."

Sora fell to his knees. "That's... that's not possible."

"No. Not possible would be that your friends survive until today. 'Extremely probable' is the term that you were looking for," Salem said cruelly. She looked over her shoulder. "Tell him, Ozpin! Tell him that I'm not lying! Tell him your book is truth!" The ice around the man's bearded jaw disappeared and he stared with unabated hatred for the woman. But he did not deny what she said.

Sora fell to his back, the repeated tragedies bearing down on his Heart. He was, for the moment, completely broken. "And like that he has lost himself, his love, his friends, and his Hope. I think your 'Smaller, More Honest Souls' are not very good at creating and fostering Hope, Oz.

"Now, usually I would fracture the Heart of my host to get a new body," Salem said, digressing and walking towards Ruby. "But there are problems with my usual approach. I have my Keyblade now that it is no longer traveling through time, so a half-stable Keyblade formed from the shattered remains of an insane woman would be a poor substitute for my greatest creation. On the other hand, your Heart is pure. No Darkness whatsoever. This means, I can't use the Kingdom Key to take it. It, unlike its inspiration, has limitations. On you." She turned to Sora and was above him in a flash. "But not on him."

She crouched down and picked up a handful of black Dust. "You've been using different Dust types to transform and strengthen parts of yourself. The White purified you completely. It's intriguing, and I haven't seen its like before. Unfortunate, seeing as you won't be able to soon. I need a Heartless to collect her Heart and generate a Darkness powerful enough to fill in the gaps of the **χ** -blade. Now that you're completely broken, I believe that you will make a perfectly excellent tool for this." She dropped the Dust just above Sora's Heart, but he didn't respond except for a tear falling from his eye. Salem frowned. "This is disappointing. Oh! I know. I'll release them too. Watching them fail to defeat an incredibly powerful being while trying to keep you from murdering the one you love! It may be good for a laugh." Then she slowly lowered the weapon to Sora's chest. "Did you know a Keyblade Master – a _true_ Keyblade Master, unlike you – is capable of altering other's Hearts. At least partially. For instance -" she buried the blade in Sora's chest and he began gasping for air. The Black Dust on his chest began to vibrate violently. "- I can make you use this Dust. If White Dust strengthened your Light... Well, let's just see what this does, why don't we?" She twisted the Kingdom Key and Sora screamed in pain before a wave of Darkness enveloped him.

"Sora..?" Ruby muttered as her mind cleared from the impact. She pushed herself to her feet and saw a black mass of shadow on the ground at Salem's feet. The wall of Light holding Ruby's allies vanished, replaced by two – one surrounding Jaune and the other protecting Cinder and her apprentices. Ruby warily reached to the small of her back and found nothing – she cursed when she remembered that Crescent Rose had been shattered. "Sora, wake up! Stop her!"

"He can't hear you, sweetie," Salem said, cocking her head and sneering at Ruby. There was a deep growl and she returned her gaze to Sora with a wide smile. Salem took her foot off of the solidifying shadows and took a few steps back. "Get up, boy. Yes, good boy." The shadow twitched and floated upward.

It was Sora, in a way. It was shaped like him at least, with the same spiky hair and wearing the same clothes, save for the fact that everything he wore was deep black. In fact, everything was deep black. His skin and hair were practically oozing Darkness. His fingers had become sharp and cruel looking claws that matched the wide, sharp toothed grin present on his face. Most disturbing of all, however, was the bright yellow eyes on the middle of his face. They were filled with hatred and hunger, and nothing else.

"...Sora..." Ruby breathed, having forgotten that the young man knew Salem was her mother. That he had hidden something so important for her. Despite it all, she knew he had just been stupid. Her sister had always said that boys were just stupid. She loved him despite it. She forgave him. She was worried right now that he was going to die.

"Get her, boy," Salem whispered at her new pet.

Ruby knew Sora would never hurt her. But Sora was not in control at that moment.

The creature shrieked, a noise that could have curdled blood, and shot towards Ruby filled with murderous intent.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Firecracker, I'm happy you're going to Atlas. Really, I am. But this is far too drastic," Taiyang said, watching his daughter pack her considerable mountain of bags into the back of their car. His hands were firmly in his pockets and he was frowning sadly: he was going to miss his little girl when she moved into the place she had found in Vale's capital city. "You don't have to leave."

"I'm an adult, I should have my own place already anyways," Yang responded calmly as she stuffed another bag on the others. "And besides, Vale will have more missions to help out with. And it'll be closer to school when they finally reopen it."

"Firecracker, just stop. None of those are good enough reasons now that the CCT is back up," Taiyang pointed out. Zwei barked in agreement. "You're leaving to spite me."

 _Maybe that's just what women do to you_ , Yang thought, happy she resisted the urge to say that aloud. They'd hurt each other enough over the past hours, which had only accelerated Yang's timetable. She'd apologized, but was done being tempted to scream at him ever few minutes. It just wasn't worth the trouble anymore.

"Dad, I'll call you after I get to my place in Vale and set everything up. Then I'll call again when I finally leave for Atlas in a couple months," Yang said, turning around and staring sadly at her father. "Maybe I'll see why Weiss ignored all our calls." She looked at the car again. "Thanks for letting me take the car, by the way."

"Fire-"

"Tai, I need your help." A black portal appeared next to the man and Raven burst out of it. Her hands gripped wildly at his shirt and he was tackled into the wall of his cabin, pinned there by the wide eyed warrior woman.

"Mom!?" Yang shouted in confusion.

"Get off of me!" Tai shouted, shoving her off. He looked her up and down. "What's wrong Rae? Why are you here?"

"It's Ruby. She – She's in danger, Tai. And... I need your help to save her," the woman said, terrified.

"What happened? What did you get my daughter into!?" Taiyang roared. He grabbed Raven by her own shirt and raised his fist, eyes full of rage.

"Dad! Later!" Yang snapped, running up and grabbing his arm. "Ruby!"

Taiyang looked over and nodded. "Take me there. Now."

"Plan first. Otherwise we're dead and she won't be far behind," Raven insisted. Tears began to well up in her eyes, tears of fear and shame. Taiyang growled at her suggestion to wait, especially when every bone in his body said rush as fast as possible. A Huntsman had to overcome impulses of stupidity though, so he nodded. "Good." Raven sighed and calmed down a half increment. "Good..." She looked around, then down at Zwei. A small grin broke out on her face as she remembered a story that Ruby had told her at Haven. "I think I have an idea."

 _ **R W B Y**_

The Sora shaped monster was flying right at Ruby with claws outstretched, ready to tear her apart. She didn't believe he would do it, however, so she remained where she was. "Dammit, Ruby!" Qrow shouted as he slid to a stop in front of her, allowing Sora's claws to crash into the flat of his blade. The Huntsman shoved with all his might to keep the two of them stuck in place, until a blast of water slammed into the Shade's side and it was sent flying away. Qrow allowed himself to heave a sigh of relief before nodding in thanks at the equally relieved Neptune and tossing a sword to Ruby. "I don't care if he is your boyfriend, Ruby, right now he's a monster. Defend yourself at least and kill him if you need to."

"Ruby, come to me and do as your uncle says!" Ozpin shouted from above. The Huntress looked between the two elder fighters, then nodded begrudgingly and ran off towards Ozpin.

"Nora, Sun, keep him busy in close range. Ren, Neptune, you two distract him from far away," Qrow commanded as he understood what Ozpin wanted and realized it may have been their only chance at survival. "Follow my lead and keep him busy!"

Qrow ran towards the recovered creature, which roared at him and slashed down with its right claw. He caught the attack on the edge of his blade and spun around it. He slammed his sword into its back with both hands, causing it to shriek and stumble. When it righted itself, streaks of Darkness rose from the ground and surrounded Sora's body in a sphere. One collided with Qrow so that he was flipped head over heels and he crashed into the ground. He opened his eyes and barely rolled out of the way of the claw that was rushing down at his skull. He got up to one knee and shot the Shade in the chest. The bullets died against Sora's chest and he advanced on Qrow menacingly, like a creature enjoying the hunt. It didn't seem like Sora was in there at all.

The creature brought its hands together, Darkness charging between its claws in a ball of pure destructive energy. That charge was cut off when Nora fell out of the sky and delivered a Thunder and grenade powered slam to its side and it was soon soaring through the air. "Sorry!" Nora shouted after him as he drifted away. The monster stopped midair, nullifying its momentum, and rocketed back at Nora. It landed atop her and began to slam its claws into the head of the hammer she was using to defend herself as best she could, the nails gouging scars into the metal surface.

"Get off of her!" Sun shouted, twirling his staff and slamming it into Sora's head. The creature stopped attacking Nora and turned its gaze slowly onto the Faunus. Sora's yellow eyes began seemed to narrow in annoyance. "Um... Oops?" A black beam of energy collided with his chest and he fell onto his back. The Sora creature made a laughing growl and kicked Nora, sliding her to Qrow's feet.

As the creature advanced on Qrow, who had jumped between it and Nora, it was quickly riddled with bullets and lasers. It raised its arms above its head, clearing its vision to see Ren and Neptune strafing across the field of battle, attacking their friend to gain his attention and distract him from attacking the others. After a short growl, it channeled Darkness into its palms and created reflective walls of Dark energy. The next volley of attacks slammed into their owners and they were taken out of the battle as well.

"Sora!"

The creature stopped its advance towards Qrow and turned to stare up at Ruby. She was standing beside the captured Ozpin, who was glaring at it defiantly. "Stop! This isn't you!"

The creature shrieked again. "Oh, sweetie, it is him. Part of him, at least. Out of everyone here, only you're perfect," Salem explained with a laugh. Sora took a step towards Ruby. "Well, at least until your Heart is gone and your body is free to use."

Sora's Shade shrieked again and tensed its legs, using its immense strength to shoot right towards Ruby. The girl readied herself, Jaune's sword in front of her, and waited until he was close enough. She turned around a moment later and jammed the sword as deep as she could into the crystals holding her headmaster, then used her Semblance to speed away. Sora's Shade watched her go, but kept on its trajectory. It collided full speed with the blade, and the gemstone shattered. It received a swift kick to its face and crashed into the ground, a broken hilt of a sword beside it. "Miss Rose, I am going to need your assistance," Ozpin said, fixing his tie and emerging from the cloud of rubble and Dust. He used one hand to correct the placement of his glasses.

"Dammit. And I was hoping he'd die during this battle," the woman muttered coldly.

"How could I help!?" Ruby shouted, nonetheless landing lightly on the ground at Ozpin's side. "He took Qrow down, and I don't really have a weapon right now!"

Ozpin glanced down at the young woman. "Believe me when I say that you not only have a weapon greater than whatever Salem could devise, but you also are the only one who could possibly save Sora from what has taken him over."

"Um... _how?_ " Ruby inquired again, missing what the ancient wizard had deemed obvious.

"Your Heart and his are connected, Miss Rose," Ozpin explained. He leaned down and his hand glowed white. White Dust leaked out slowly from beneath the Black Dust, as if it had been hidden far below the stone of the region. Soon, a white, cane like weapon was present in his right hand and he raised it like it was a sword. "Use that connection and save him Heart from the Darkness eternal. Go, Miss Rose, before it is too late!"

"Wait! What are you going to do?" she asked lamely.

Ozpin glared down at Salem. "I am going to keep an old friend busy," he said darkly, then began to slowly walk towards the woman.

Ruby gulped and looked over at the dazed monster that was Sora. It shook its head in an oddly human motion to clear its head then stood up and locked its eyes on Ruby. "S-Sora. Wake up!" The creature hissed and walked towards her. It began to create more beams of energy in its palms, firing them towards Ruby every few moments. She dodged them easily, and it seemed like they were more just to induce fear in her than to actually hurt her. "Sora, stop!"

The creature hissed as it neared her, slashing at her. Ruby stumbled backwards and fell to her back. "No! Sora!" The creature raised its arm and readied to murder Ruby Rose. Her eyes shut tight, then she opened them more determined than before. She got to her feet, filled with a feeling she had felt before only twice – once whens he witnessed the death of Pyrrha Nikos and again when she saw Xehanort preparing to kill Sora. "Wake up!" Her eyes glowed brighter than they had either of those times, hope that she could save him running through her very veins. "Sora, wake up!" The Light spilled from her eyes, blinding everyone that was present and purifying the things closest to her with magic.

There was a bright Silvery flash, and Ruby suddenly found herself holding the unconscious form of Sora on the ground. His clothes were torn and frayed, nearly destroyed. His skin was a deep red, covered in wounds and burns. It was as if every attack he had taken while under the control of Salem had landed, but he had been able to ignore it until that moment. He was a mess.

"What a disappointment," Salem muttered. A portal opened above Ruby and Sora, and Ozpin fell out of it and crashed against the ground. His weapon was shattered and his already tattered clothes had been further destroyed. Salem followed and landed softly near them, Keyblade gleaming threateningly in her hand. Ruby wasn't used to the usually elegant weapon appearing evil. "I didn't want to take the quick way. It's not as effective. But there was something left of him in there and better a half measure than a broken full measure."

"Leave him alone!" Ruby commanded, stepping between the Keyblade Wielder and the evil woman. She readied for unarmed battle.

"You can't win," Salem noted as she raised the weapon above her head. "You have no weapon. No chance to save him."

"Then I'll die trying," Ruby said, furrowing her brow. "Do your worst."

"Fine," Salem responded, and she brought her weapon down to attack Ruby. It was at that moment, that the young woman instinctively raised her hands, her only thoughts on saving one of the people she cared about the very most. "But you will fall."

"Not today! Not by my mother's hands!" Ruby shouted angrily. There was a bright flash of red light, and the smell of roses filled the air. The Kingdom Key made a clear _clang_ as it crashed into a red and black weapon that had appeared suddenly in Ruby's hands. The blade was silver on one side, and curved towards the teeth of the blade like the blade of a scythe. The side with which one would attack was red, as well as slightly wider and flatter than the silver side, though it appeared no less dangerous. The handle was black with a red basket shaped like entwining rose vines and was attached to a chain of four links – red, white, black, and yellow circles in that order that ended in a silver Scatter insignia. Overlaying the blade of the weapon on both sides of the flat was a red and black cylinder that came together just past the edge of the inward curve. From both of them extended the teeth of the weapon, shaped like a diagonal cross over rose thorns that she used to clasp her hood to her shirt.

Both Ruby and Salem were staring with eyes wide open at the weapon that Ruby clutched tight in both hands, as if they both expected it to disappear at any moment because there was no way that it could be real. Ruby Rose had summoned a Keyblade to her hands, marking her as a Keyblade Wielder. "Miss Rose..." Ozpin muttered before struggling to find words. He had not believed anyone on Remnant, regardless of the strength of their Heart, could summon a Keyblade. He had suspected that Sora and Xehanort's arrival could have, perhaps, changed that, but to have his beliefs confirmed... Ruby had done what she had always been able to do – ignite the spark of hope.

"That is... unexpected," Salem said, staring down at the young woman's sudden reveal of power. "I rarely underestimate anyone... How did you summon tha-"

Ruby didn't listen to what the woman had to say, instead lunging forward with her new weapon. She wasn't quite prepared for how much speed and strength she had put behind the attack, for she suddenly had more in her body than before. The blade was easily whacked aside by Salem's weapon. "It's that boy, isn't it?" the woman wondered, looking down at the unconscious former Keyblade Wielder. Salem looked up at Ruby and sidestepped the overhand slash that Ruby had aimed at her. "Please, I am trying to concentrate here."

Salem took a half step back and raised her left palm in front of her. There was a bright explosion of fire, and Ruby was knocked off of her feet. She landed hard beside Sora and groaned in pain, her new Keyblade still held in her left hand. "Nice attempt for a novice," Salem quietly complimented as she leaned down to pick up the weapon. "How... Well, it doesn't matter now." She tossed the weapon over her shoulder, expecting that the young woman couldn't figure out how to summon it back to her hand in time to stop her. The witch looked down at Sora and placed her Keyblade on his chest again. "I suppose a weaker Heartless will have to do." Darkness began to channel around the end of the blade, swirling like a black vortex foretelling doom.

She was cut off when something small, incredibly durable, and on fire slammed into the small of her back. Salem was thrown forward, the sound of incredibly excited barking following her. When she stopped moving and made her way to her feet, she looked over her shoulder. "Is that a... _dog?_ "

Indeed it was. It was an incredibly small breed, mostly puffy black and white fur. Even Salem's frozen Heart had to admit that it had the most adorable little face and happy smile that she had ever seen. "Zwei! Chase your tail!" someone shouted. The dog yipped and began to do as told, even as a blonde, middle aged man ran up and lifted the dog with both hands. He spun around with the dog and threw it straight at Salem once again. She glanced around, confused at the sheer absurdity of what was happening. The man fired explosive, fiery rounds after the dog, igniting its fur once again and giving it a massive boost in speed. When it hit Salem, it was enough to even make her feel the pain of the impact.

"Stop throwing dogs at me!" Salem shouted at the blonde man as the pup that had bounced off of her landed by its master's feet, growling angrily at her and getting ready to attack on its own. Brave little beast.

"Wait... Summer? You're alive!?" the blonde man asked, letting his guard down. The dog, however, did not.

"I am afraid, Mister Xiao Long, that Summer Rose can not hear you," Ozpin said, staggering to his feet by the blonde man. "Because _that_ is not her."

"Who is – Oz!? You're alive!?" the blonde man shouted, letting his guard fall further.

"Not the time, Mister Xiao Long," Ozpin muttered dismissively. "Get this boy to Raven's portal. Qrow is likely collecting the others as we speak. Miss Rose, I will need your assistance." Ozpin raised his hand above him, and green light flashed around him in a circle. Some of Sora's minor wounds healed, though the ones threatening him most remained. Ruby's wounds all healed and she stood up on uncertain feet.

"I'm not letting my daughter fight -"

"Neither am I, Taiyang!" Ozpin snapped, slapping the man across the face. He lowered his voice. "We are _all_ escaping and this is our only chance, slim and dangerous may it be."

"Did you forget that I am right here!?" Salem shouted, throwing up her hands in exasperation. "Unbelievable. It's like I'm not even here! Ozpin... are we breaking up again?"

"We haven't forgotten about you," Ozpin growled as he appeared in front of Salem, a green blur extending behind him from sheer speed. He lanced out with a Firaga infused fist, the explosive force landing against the woman's jaw. It didn't even faze her.

"I am no longer amused," Salem growled with stilted words, bringing her weapon up and slapping Ozpin away. From behind him appeared a tornado of red, tipped with a silver edge. The being slammed into Salem's midsection and she doubled over, sliding back on her feet but keeping them firmly planted on the ground. She jolted upright and brought her elbow down on the base of Ruby's neck, tripping the young woman. Salem growled and kicked the young woman's Keyblade away before raising her weapon. "You have become more trouble than you are worth. Death will have to do for now." Then she brought the Keyblade down at the prone young woman's throat, ready to hear the delicious splash of blood...

Only for it to stop inches away from the girl. Salem's face was filled with sudden confusion, and she raised the blade for a deathblow yet again. Once more, the blade stopped before hitting the young woman. Salem snarled and took a step back. "So... you're not quite dead," Salem muttered to herself angrily, staring down at the Keyblade as she spoke to herself. She ignored the pointless attack from Ruby that slammed into her face. "That will have to be rectified." The woman caught the next attack with her open palm and growled at Ruby. "If I cannot kill you, capturing you will have to do." Ice began to creep down the blade of Ruby's new weapon, freezing solid everything it touched as it approached Ruby's flesh.

When the world fell out from beneath them, sufficed to say that Salem was rather surprised. In her haste to deal with the main threat against her, she had forgotten about the weaker but better trained enemies she had to deal with. Raven Branwen was waiting beneath her portal with blade drawn and cloaked in Gravity Dust. When Salem was close enough, the woman leaped upwards and delivered a savage slash to the witch's arm. While not enough to actually 'disarm' the woman, it was enough to cause her to drop Ruby and slam into the ground at seven times her normal weight. Not much of a problem for her, but enough to give Raven time to move.

Raven caught the young woman even as she began to sprint towards the other portal – their exit – which was guarded by Taiyang and Qrow. Team STRQ, together again... in the worst possible way. As she sprinted away from Salem in a zig zag evasive movement, the witch was firing off large explosive spells that barely missed their target each time. Raven was getting incredibly lucky.

Into her twin's arms, Raven shoved Ruby. "I can walk by myself, you know!" the young woman shouted in vain, as Qrow was already carrying her through the portal.

"Aaaand she escaped," Salem muttered, letting the spell in her hand fall. "Damn. I guess I'll have to have fun with the two of you instead." The witch rushed forward and raised the Keyblade above her right shoulder in both hands.

"Raven!" Taiyang shouted, shoving the woman out of the way and blocking the attack with his gauntlet. There was a sickening crunch, and he was thrown backwards to the lip of the portal, dazed from the intense pain.

"Tai!" Raven screamed. She got to her feet and drew her blade, immediately throwing herself between her husband and her former best friend. "Stay back, Summer. If you're in there, stay away. I don't want to hurt you!"

"She can't hear you. She could barely hear her daughter," Salem snapped. She raised her Keyblade in front of her and a small, magnetic force appeared at its tip. It was all that Raven could do to hold onto her blade at that point. Taiyang screamed in pain when his body began to drag across the ground towards Salem, led by his shattered gauntlet. "And she definitely can't hear him."

"Don't hurt him!" Raven snapped, throwing her blade forward in the hopes that the blade would be able to do _something_ to the woman she was fighting. At the same time, Raven jumped down and hauled her husband towards the portal.

"Raven, let me go!" he hissed as she slowly struggled against the force pulling him back. "Get back there and see our daughter! Be a mother!"

"Eh, I'd just run away again without you," she joked as they reached the edge of the portal again. She lifted Tai in front of her. "See? We made -" She was cut short when a silver blade suddenly protruded from her chest. Her jaw went slack suddenly and her eyes glazed over for a moment before she steeled them again. She looked down at the weapon sticking out of her chest, then back up at Taiyang's horrified face. Tears welled up in Raven's eyes and she smiled sadly. "I'm really sorry." Then, with the last of her strength, Raven Xiao Long shoved her husband forward and saved his life.

 _"_ _ **RAVEN**_ _!"_ the man screamed as he fell backwards through the hole in space and time. He watched his wife helplessly, knowing he could do nothing but trying to find anything. A white light began to shine from the edges of the wound at her chest, glowing brighter and brighter with each passing moment until a red, crystalline Heart suddenly appeared and floated away, only to be stopped by a wall of Darkness that slowly consumed it. Raven smiled sadly and the rest of her body began to glow, the light shining through her disguising the fact that she was becoming more and more transparent. The walls of the portal around Taiyang began to edge shut; the one holding them open was slowly succumbing to death. Raven, now with flecks of Light floating up from her body and almost completely transparent, mouthed something to her husband. Then there was a loud, shattering noise, and Raven disappeared.

The last thing that Taiyang Xiao Long saw before crashing onto the yard of his cabin was Salem twisting the kind and compassionate face of Summer Rose into a terrible and cruel smirk.

And Taiyangs final act before falling unconscious was to allow tears to stream down his face in time with the last words of his now truly dead wife – "I love you both so much."

 **AN: And that's the halfway point, give or take. I'm guessing it's not quite what most people were expecting, tone-wise. Or, Sora-wise. I think someone asked if I was planning a VOL 3 style ending for the Haven arc more than five chapters ago. I half lied. This is the VOL 3 style ending.**

 **Like I said before, this chapter is the one I am most scared of so far. It's a big change for the characters and** ** _a_** ** _lot_** **happened. I'm worried it might be too much of a change, but it was always the plan.**

 **From the moment I started, I knew Sora's friends were dead in this story. It's been hinted at, if you go back. Xehanort never said Remnant, for instance. He knew. He called it** ** _the_** **Remnant. It's also a good explanation for why all the RWBY characters are based off of characters from folklore and history – they're Hearts reborn.**

 **Oh, before I forget, two chapters ago this story passed 100 reviews! That's a big deal for me, it's the first time it's happened. I geeked out about it for a few days then forgot to include the 'Hooray!' in the last chapter because it took so long to write it. So, without further ado, WOOT!**

 **Now to responses:**

 **To Gravenimage: I can't wait for Yang to enter the fight. She's a big part of next chapter, especially her first meeting with Sora. Expect... well, Yang-ness and probably very little fighting.**

 **To gamelover41592: I hope Sora vs Salem did not disappoint. It flowed easily when writing, at least.**

 **To warrior of six blades: You were right. Salem knew everything going into this battle. And that's the only way she gets into a fight. Doesn't turn out well for her if she doesn't do that, as evidenced by Sora and Ruby's connection being stronger than anticipated or – more interestingly – Ruby's summoning of the Keyblade. I'm thinking** ** _Crescent Rose_** **as an homage? Speaking of, moment of silence...**

 **To NormalRebel52: I don't have any plans to put music suggestions into this story. Mainly because I'm** ** _way_** **too lazy. Wish I wasn't, though. Some stories really benefit from it.**

 **So, thanks for reading up to here in** ** _Smaller, More Honest Souls –_** **Thanks to all of you. I hope you have enjoyed it so far and will continue to do so for at least another twenty-ish chapters. Cheers.**


	21. Awakening

**AN: Hello!**

 **So, now that Ozpin's a part of this story, I've decided on a last name for Sora, given that the old man often refers to people by their last names. I thought Nomura, given the man is essentially Sora's dad, would be a good idea.**

 **Secondly, I partially based Ruby's new outfit on her Slayer outfit from Season 2, as well as art I found on Google. The art also partially inspired the Keyblade idea I had for Ruby's weapon, though I also had my own ideas before seeing it that I thought integrated well. Nonetheless, if my otherwise terrible college English teacher taught me anything, it's that cited credit should go to... well, as of now the name on the page I've found is Razenix-Angel, but that could change at any moment.**

 **Now for responses:**

 **To Gravenimage: Thanks. I hope the story continues to only get better!**

 **To gamelover51592: I can't wait for all of you to see how this plays out, and to see the Salem-Ozpin relationship pre-Keyblade War.**

 **To goddragonking: I'll try to update as quickly as possible. It's been easier lately, so I've been making up for lost time.**

 **To anonymous: Sora is indeed going to become much stronger, but it'll be a process. And his outfit is... well, I have the core concept planned out. I just want to pin down specifics still, but it'll be a bit like KH3 or KH2 Sora crossed with Roxas from Twilight Town.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Salem's backstory is only beginning. You'll see some of it in this chapter, but in this story she's a lot more dangerous than just some Keyblade Master. Her ties with Oz run deep. And I've been playing a lot of KHUX recently, so take that hint as you will. I'm with yyou on the parts with Zwei. Aside from Qrow and Ruby, he might by my favorite character from the show. It was super out of left field, in the best way, when he showed up. And Raven... I'm sad she's gone. Well, 'gone;' losing one's Heart and dying in the KH universe aren't as mutually exclusive as they appear, are they?**

 **To 7: And Salem still hasn't reached her full strength, yet.**

 **To Wlyman2009: I agree, but it wouldn't have changed much aside from keeping Sora from getting worried. Maybe one less terrible thing weighing on his Heart could have kept him from almost giving in to his Darkness, though.**

 **To sethman610: Don't worry too much about Sora. Even without a Keyblade he's dangerous, and I wouldn't quite count him out yet. Besides, I told Keyslinger Roxas that the Rebirth Theory would factor pretty heavily into this story, so I doubt Sora has seen the last of his Keyblade Master years.**

 **And, finally, more of a... retort, I suppose.**

 **To Guest who likes cursing too much: I am glad that you raised criticism, as it is a mark that last chapter was indeed as controversial as I'd believed. Though you did it incredibly poorly, if I'm being honest. When you decide to criticize someone, regardless of who it is or for what reason it is done, you should generally live by the rule of 'Don't Curse; No Personal Attacks.' When you don't live by that rule** ** _,_** **it makes you sound juvenile. Also, 'bitch Ruby?' If you don't like Ruby, why are you here? Look, there's not going to be Keyblades left and right – just Ruby and Jaune, for obvious reasons. Finally, I am also a dude. X-Y chromosome pair, the whole shebang. Now, if you want to talk calmly about this, message me and I will try to alleviate your worries. Or you could just wait and see what's going to happen. Chill, dude, it'll be okay.**

 **Finally, that was a lot of reviews. Thanks! Now, enjoy.**

 _ **Chapter 21: Awakening**_

Salem watched the portal of Darkness shut with a grim smile, enjoying the terror that had been present on the face of Taiyang Xiao Long following the death of his first wife right in front of him.

Well, perhaps 'death' wasn't the right term. Perhaps it was more of a restructuring, a rebirth into the Darkness that would soon consume _everything_.

Salem looked up and her evil smile widened almost imperceptibly. There was a swirling mass of Darkness not far above the woman's head, positioned right in the spot where Raven Xiao Long's Heart had been devoured by the Darkness. Salem raised her outstretched Keyblade up to the mass, surrounding it with Darkness as she did. When the black aura surrounding the weapon touched that of the orb, the sphere contracted to a minuscule point and fell to the ground in front of Salem.

The sound of writhing bodies and scratching nails began to arise from the puddle of evil on the ground, as if something was trying to escape its cocoon and become something beautiful and terrible. Soon, a clawed arm erupted from the Darkness and slammed into the ground beside it. It was deep black and covered in grey and white feathers that ran up its elbow. The hand ended in four, dangerous looking claws. The arm was soon followed by its mirror image, which gripped the ground on the other side of the Darkness. The two arms strained for a moment, lifting a great mass through the small opening. Suddenly, there was a loud _squelch_ noise, and two black, feathery wings shot through the Darkness and fanned out to almost fifteen feet wingspan. A white beaked visage followed, yellow eyes glowing against its black and gray skin. It pushed itself further out of the portal, revealing red, armored appendages that ended in long, red blades beneath the upper arms; the chest of the creature had a large shape carved from it. An empty Heart.

Salem walked forward and placed her hand on the creature's beak as the large monster's talons landed softly on the ground and it rose to be the height of its former, Human body. The Heartless' head cocked to the side and it hissed in confusion at the being before it. All the creature could see was that the pale woman had a brilliant Heart and an equally brilliant one held in her hand. The bird like Heartless growled and snapped its beak before lashing out with both of its bladed appendages at Salem. The woman just snarled and coated her hand in Darkness before pulling down on the Heartless' beak and slamming it face first into the ground. The monster shrieked and scrabbled against the ground, trying to stand and destroy the being who had so effortlessly defeated it, but to no avail. After a while, it stopped, recognizing the taint in Salem's Heart as one akin to its own. The woman released it and allowed the monster to slowly stand up.

"W-w-what is that?"

Salem turned to the source of the voice. "Oh! Yes, I'd... I'd forgotten about you," she told the Knight, who was backed against the barrier holding him. He was staring at the Heartless with a combination of utter fear and morbid interest. Salem glanced past him at the unconscious forms of Cinder and her compatriots. "Yes, yes I'd forgotten about them as well. I suppose you should all meet." She raised her hand and readied to heal them, then stopped. "Ah, try not to kill Cinder would you? Unfortunately for your thirst for vengeance, she's necessary to my plans – which means she is necessary to bringing your beloved back."

Jaune glanced at the ground and then back up. Sullenly, he nodded. "Good. I would rather not deal with the trouble of finding yet another individual like her," the ancient witch said. She raised her keyblade and green light flashed around Cinder, knitting together the wounds of the young Maiden and the warriors with her. Before the light vanished, she lowered the barrier containing them. "Once in four centuries is long enough."

There was a groan as the fast one recovered first. "What kind of train slammed into me?" he asked himself with a groan. The young man rubbed his silver haired head and grimaced before opening his eyes. "Whoa, who's the scary looking one? And the bird thing next to her?"

"Quiet fool," Cinder snapped, shoving him aside before falling to one knee. "This is Salem."

"Great, she's only much more terrifying than you," Mercury muttered as quietly as possible. His gaze turned towards a solid chunk of ice stuck to the ground and his eyes widened.

"What happened to the Old Guy?" he asked, genuinely worried for the man. He sped towards him and grimaced. "I didn't think Keyboy had the killer edge needed to do this..." He leaned in closer and yelped. "His – His eyes just moved! He's alive!" He looked over his shoulder. "We gotta get him out of there."

"Except Sora didn't do this. And neither did any of his allies," Salem explained with a smile.

Mercury began to ask what she meant, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the weapon that dangled at Salem's side. "That's Keyboy's..."

"He was borrowing it," Salem explained boredly. "As for Xehanort, he grew too unruly to be depended upon." She smiled darkly at the young man. "I trust you understand that to betray me would be one of the more stupid ideas anyone could have." Mercury glanced over at the frozen Xehanort, then back at Salem; he gulped and quickly ran away so he could begin hiding behind Emerald.

"Brave," the thief remarked dryly.

"Shut up," Mercury shot back, keeping his eyes on the Salem woman. He cleared his throat and raised his voice. "And... um... what's that thing next to you? The big, angry bird monster? Should I be worried about this thing and its... hungry eyes that just keep..." The warrior swayed from side to side and laughed nervously to hide his complete terror. "That just keep following me?"

"And is that the blondie who hangs with little red?" Emerald asked, worriedly shrinking away with Merc from the young Huntsman glaring daggers at them. She thought of when he had gone full Dark and tried to murder her and Merc, and she shivered.

"Oh, we have so much to talk about," Salem said with a smile. She hefted the Keyblade to her shoulder and smiled. "But there are things to be done, so we'll deal with the basics." She summoned the Keyblade into her left hand, relishing the renewed feeling of power that came with the weapon's return, and slammed it into the creature's chest. It hissed, but did not move. "This is a Heartless, a creature of pure Darkness. If I'm correct, Xehanort told you more than enough about them."

"Well, as someone with plenty of Darkness in his Heart, I'm worried," Mercury remarked. He grimaced and stared at the creature. "Are you sure we can't let Xehanort out? I would feel _much_ more comfortable..."

"No," Salem said simply. She walked around behind the creature and stared through the gaping cavity in its chest. "For now, don't get too close to this little beastie. I haven't given it a name yet, and you are all still very good servants. Especially you, Cinder."

The Maiden blushed and smiled appreciatively. "She looks like you," Mercury mumbled under his breath, just loud enough for Emerald to hear. "Even has the same brown stain on her nose."

"Asshole," Emerald hissed back.

"My point exactly," Mercury retorted, praying neither Cinder nor Salem had heard him. Both could beat him up and no one here would help him get out of that. Thankfully, either they didn't hear him or they didn't care. Given Cinder's personality, it was probably the first one.

"And Jaune... Yes, I promised you a Keyblade," Salem said, suddenly turning to ignore the three warriors.

Cinder's eyes flared up with flames. "What!?" she snapped, surging to her feet and glowering at the pale woman. "You would give him what I deserve -"

"I give him nothing," Salem growled. She turned her eyes to the Maiden and her red eyes glowed brighter, filled with rage and murder. Cinder's flaming eyes began to die down and she found herself slowly bending knee again. Salem continued to sneer down at Cinder for a while before returning her attention to Jaune, again seeming like she was surprised he was there. "Hello. Keyblade, yes..." Salem turned and walked over to Xehanort.

"I think she's insane," Emerald murmured over her shoulder at mercury.

"Oh thank God I'm not the only one who sees it," Mercury muttered under his breath. He crouched lower behind Emerald and looked over at Xehanort again. The frozen man's eyes were fixed on him, full of pleading and fear. Terror, really. Mercury felt a pang of sympathy for the man. "She's not really gonna kill him, is she?"

"If you betrayed me, I would murder you without a second thought," Cinder responded off handedly as she stood up to watch. She didn't even bother looking over her shoulder at the assassin, instead keeping her gaze fixed on the semi sane woman standing over Xehanort.

"Well, I suppose this as good a time as any to start in on building that army," Salem said. She summoned a flame to the tip of her Keyblade and melted the magic around the man. She flicked her wrist so the man would stand in front of her, then smiled dismissed her weapon. She reached forward with both hands and gripped the weapon sticking out of the man's gut. He roared in pain, but stayed standing by his own strength of will. "Do you have any last words for me, Xehanort?"

"He'll kill you," Xehanort said with a nasty grin.

"Because he defeated you?" Salem asked. She laughed caustically and stuffed the **χ** -blade's shattered tip into the ground. "He had a Keyblade when he fought you. _My_ Keyblade. Now he has nothing."

"I thought the same thing of him many times before," Xehanort responded. He let his chin hit his chest. "Do your worst and stop prattling on. I think I understand why all those children thought of me as an overly didactic fool."

"Fine. But first, I need something of yours," Salem said calmly, albeit disappointed. She placed her Keyblade on the man's chest and tapped three times. His weapon appeared in his right hand, dangling loosely from his bloody fingers. Salem reached out and took the Keyblade, gingerly pulling it away by the gap in the center of its flat and laying it next to the **χ** -blade. "I really am sad it had to be this way. I liked you."

"We don't like anybody," Xehanort acknowledged with a snarl.

"No, I suppose we don't," Salem muttered. She grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and lifted him slowly up. "Is it painful to become a Heartless? If it is, scream so I can know." Then she tossed him over her shoulder an at the creature. The Heartless perked up and hissed as the being full of Darkness flew towards it. It chirped and jumped right at Xehanort's body, tearing through it in one swift movement. He didn't scream.

When Xehanort's Heart began to rise and disappear, Mercury grimaced. "That was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen," he noted with stilted words. There was a growl and another Heartless appeared, this one a hulking, black figure with bandages roping across its skin. Xehanort's shadow. It growled at the bird like creature, which slashed back with its knife like arms.

"Enough," Salem snapped. She had bent down to pick up the weapon she'd taken from Xehanort, and was now gesturing at the two now hissing Heartless. She glanced between them and motioned with her Keyblade. "Well? Go. I don't need you right now. Eat, build. _Go."_ The yellow eyed monsters snarled and growled before disappearing in bursts of Darkness.

She stared at the spots where the Heartless had been moments earlier, then nodded in satisfaction and turned around. Cinder began to growl angrily when Salem walked towards Jaune with both Keyblades at the ready. Salem smiled and placed the black, gnarled weapon into Jaune's hand. "Good, one more thing done," Salem said cheerily. She turned towards Cinder and laughed at the young woman's disgusted snarl. "Oh, come now, darling. I haven't forgotten about you." Salem raised her free hand and snapped her fingers.

The world around them began to rumble, and the place where Ozpin had been just hours ago shook most violently. Slowly, directly across from the shackles, rose another, identical set. Imprisoned within the gemstones was a woman around the same age as Cinder. She had fiery orange hair and bright yellow eyes. Her mouth was covered by the gemstones. "Meet the Summer Maiden. She traveled from Vacuo to Mistral in order to hide from me. She was unsuccessful," Salem explained. She flourished her empty hand again and a white glove appeared in her open palm. Cinder's eyes lit up with excitement as she saw it. "Yes." Salem scoffed and tossed the glove to the other woman. "Just make sure that you take all the power this time. We don't need to hunt her down again."

Salem reached into her pocket and pulled out a small rectangle. Her eyes hardened as she opened it, scanning each of the pages. The more she looked at it, the more and more she became convinced that the original book was not unlike the one that Ozpin had written for his students so long ago – one capable of opening a portal in time to reconstruct the original Realm of Darkness, provided she gathered enough Darkness in the Hearts on the Remnant. "Yes..." She turned around and glared at the young warriors walking towards the Summer Maiden, an evil smile stretching across her face. "And when you're done, I'm going to need you to go book hunting. It's a rare first edition."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora first noted that he was warm. Incredibly, comfortably warm. As if he was on a bed, for the first time in forever. For a moment, he thought that everything that had happened over the past year and change had been a bad dream, that he was just waking up from a the nightmare he'd been stuck in following his failed Mark of Mastery exam. Then he remembered Ruby – no, there was no way it could have been a nightmare, not with her around. But everything else meant it definitely wasn't a dream. Not a nightmare, not a dream..? He groaned and pushed himself up, finding himself alone in a room of a wooden cabin. He gingerly grabbed the comforter that covered his lower body and looked down. He noticed not that the comforter was a silvery gray and covered in black, yellow, and white flower patterns. He also noted that he had no shirt on, with his left shoulder, gut, and both forearms instead wrapped in white bandaging littered with small patches of deep red. His skin had lost its usual tan, but he sensed that the pale white was a vast improvement from whatever it had been before.

Sora's eyes widened as fragments of memory flashed through his mind. Darkness, screaming. A flash of red light and roses followed by an explosive beam of Darkness. Claws against metal. Dark, evil laughter. _His_ laughter. Then there was a bright flash of white Light and everything was gone. Sora sadly shook his head as he realized what had happened. More coherent memories from his time in his... _Anti-Form_ were of his old friends. He knew it hadn't been real, but he knew what he'd seen. Riku and Kairi and the others growing old and dying, watching them slowly wither away or be consumed by Darkness while begging him to tell them _why_ , why he had abandoned them. Why he had disappeared and let the World die. He'd also had dreams of Ruby – how much she hated him for not telling her the truth about her mother, for lying about everything.

Sora curled up, pulling his knees beneath the comforter up to his chest and cradling them. He winced as something in his side stung and stretched. He had lost everything, and that had broken him enough for Salem to turn him into... _that._

Even though he knew it would only disappoint him further, Sora raised his right arm out in front of him and reached for that part of his Heart that had always been connected to the Kingdom Key before. It felt cold, empty. As if it had been cut off from everything. When he struggled to summon the weapon, that cold feeling only grew and Sora's hand became filled with nothing but empty air. After a few minutes of trying, Sora let his hand slowly drift back down to clutch his knees together. The young Keyblade Wielder's – _former_ Keyblade Wielder's – head fell on top of his knees and his eyes filled with tears. He had lost it, all of it. His weapon, his friends, and the World he'd been born in had been replaced with emptiness, death, and a fractured Remnant.

Sora looked up when he heard violently joyful yipping coming closer and closer. He raised one eyebrow and wiped the tears from his eyes before sliding his feet from the bed. He was wearing a pair of black sweatpants a little too long for him that were rolled up to his ankles to fit. Sora pushed off from the bed as the barking shot past the closed door of the room he was in, followed by the footsteps of a shouting young woman whose voice Sora didn't recognize. He walked over to the door, feeling a small, dull pain in his left leg every time it had to support his weight, and opened it. He looked to the right, down one hallway, and then down the other direction. There was a flash of bright blonde hair rounding a corner. The young man frowned and turned back into his room, rummaging around until he found a shirt. He threw it on as carefully as he could, then began walking towards where he had seen the yellow hair.

"Zwei! Stop!" the same voice shouted. Sora heard a dull thud coming from behind one open door, then a crash. The voice had turned into a pattern of speech people only used with dogs and babies. "Ha ha! Got you, you bad puppy!"

Sora raised one eyebrow and hobbled around the doorway. It was another bedroom, this one with bright yellow furnishings covering almost every inch of the walls and the bed's upholstery. Sitting in front of a table, a bunch of scattered things surrounding her, was a woman with wild, fiery yellow hair that nearly reached the top of her legs. She was looking at the wall, wrestling with or cradling something in her arms. She laughed as something small, black and white, and incredibly fast jumped from her arms and ran towards Sora. When the dog jumped at Sora, the young man yelped in surprise and barely caught the creature in time to not be tackled to the ground. "Who's th-" the woman asked, standing up. Sora caught sight of her reflection and his eyes widened.

The woman was beautiful, for sure. Her lilac eyes were filled with a smile that was only out shined by the one on her face, and she looked like she could hold her own in a fight. She was wearing a black and white leather jacket with a purple stone at her throat. And she was missing her right arm. Sora looked down when the image in front of him was replaced with a silhouette from within Jaune's Heart; he didn't feel like dwelling on another failure right then. Sora sadly began to scratch the dog's – Zwei's – ears.

"Oh, don't shield your eyes from my beauty! Sure, it's a lot after four weeks unconscious, but you never know when you'll get to see beauty like this again!" the woman exclaimed with a grin. Sora looked up, about to respond, only to shout out in a combination of surprise and pain when a blur of yellow slammed into his chest and tackled him to the ground.

Sora grimaced and rubbed his head, but knew he felt better than the dog. Zwei was whining about being crushed between two humans. When Sora opened his eyes, he was confronted with a sultry smile. "Hi, cutey," the woman said with a wink. Sora cringed; even he wasn't oblivious enough to ignore that.

"I have a... well, I had, at least, a – "

"I know. You're Ruby's boy toy," the woman said, pushing herself up and to her feet. She leaned down over the prone warrior and raised her eyebrows flirtatiously. "You're cuter than you are on TV."

"Thanks?" Sora muttered, clutching tight at the dog on his chest in fear. This woman was a lot... larger than life than her sister had described. "And you're Yang, aren't you?"

"As if anyone else could look this good," Yang said with mock self interest. She flipped her hair with her hand and grinned down at the young man again. "Sorry about _dragon_ you down with me!"

Sora glanced from side to side with his eyes; he still hadn't gotten to his feet. He asked lamely, "What?"

Yang's shoulders fell and she growled. "Great, she got a boyfriend without a sense of humor. Just my luck," she grumbled to herself. Yang sighed and shrugged. "Well, better go tell Ruby you're awake." She turned to leave, then stopped before taking a single step. Only her eyes turned to look down at Sora, and he noticed with a fright that they were fiery red now. Her hair was starting to glow and float, flames jumping off of them. "If you hurt Ruby, what Qrow does to you will look _hilarious_ compared to what I'll do." Then her eyes became lilac again and her hair fell, the eerie anger was replaced with a sweet smile. "Cya soon!" The woman disappeared, running at full speed down the hallway.

Sora gulped and pushed himself to a sitting position, groaning at the newfound pain in his shoulder. The dog in his arms whined happily and began to lick his face aggressively, the sensation causing even the morose Sora to laugh and scratch at the dog's back again. "Where is everybody, boy?" Sora asked the dog as his hand ran to the bottom of the dog's snout and the pup panted contentedly. The dog's head shot to the side, ears twitching. He barked at Sora, telling him to follow, then bolted down the hallway. Sora heaved a sigh and pushed himself to his feet as best he could, doing as the dog had commanded and following.

He walked through the home, occasionally stopping to examine the pictures on the walls. There were dozens of ones with Ruby and her sister, and one could easily trace their progression growing up. The earliest one that Sora saw was of a small, blonde baby shrieking joyfully in the arms of a lilac eyed man with similarly colored hair and... Raven. It looked like it had been replaced recently, maybe in the past few weeks. A few pictures down was one of the same man, his eyes filled with a ragged sadness despite his smile; he was holding in his outstretched hands a shrieking two year old with on fire hair and red eyes – Yang. Beside them was a woman wearing a white, hooded cape. She had a timid, but incredibly compassionate smile beneath her low hanging red and black hair and glimmering silver eyes. There was a bundle of red in her arms, from which peeked snow pale skin and wide silver orbs.

Sora smiled and continued walking, peeking at even more photographs. The man alone with his two kids: Yang with her hands raised ecstatically to the sky and a look of victory on her face, Ruby wearing a smaller, hood-less cape that was too big for her. It looked a lot like Qrow's. Other than those, there were a few of Qrow and the girls, of the two of them with their newly built weapons. A dying Ursai pack beneath Yang's feet, decapitated Beowolves behind a sweetly smiling Ruby.

Sora looked up and walked down to the window when he heard an explosion, and he looked outside. Yang was shouting excitedly, telling some sort of story. No, it was a joke. He could tell from the way that Ren and Nora groaned in pain from her mere words. Those two were sitting close together, hands touching lightly on the grass beneath them; they both had a sad look about them. Sora shifted his gaze. Sun was busy flicking water from a stream right at his team mate, laughing hysterically at the other young man's response to his actions. Then Sora saw the source of the explosion.

Everyone's heads turned to watch a young woman flip through the air, a red, silver, and black weapon in her left hand raised in front of her. A Blizzaga followed her, slamming into the weapon as she landed and bouncing off. Qrow rushed at her from beyond the sight of the window, spells following him. Ruby was soon forced to deal with his incredible sword skills and the spells that came for her. Despite the fact that Qrow and the spellcaster were obviously holding back to an extent, Ruby was doing really well. Her swordsmanship was pretty good for someone who had only ever used a scythe. Sora frowned. Speaking of, where _was_ Crescent Rose?

He hobbled over to the door and walked outside. It was warm, but there was a crisp, autumnal tinge to the air. The leaves were already orange and red, falling from the trees above and scattering all across the ground. "Yep, there he is!" Yang said, gesturing with her arm at Sora.

"Sora!" Nora shouted, jumping up and dragging her boyfriend behind across the ground. The former Keyblade Master grimaced and readied himself to have the young huntress and her partner slam into him at full speed. He was already cringing away when she slammed into him and sent him flying back into the outer wall of the cabin. "You're okay!"

"I think that would be a matter of perspective," Ren said from the ground. He raised an eyebrow at Nora's sheepish grin and pushed himself to his feet. The ninja grimaced apologetically at Sora, whose face was growing more and more purple as Nora's hug continued to strangle him. Ren placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's good to see you."

"Finally. Thought you were never gonna wake up," Sun said, suddenly dangling from the roof above Sora, who was inching closer and closer to unconsciousness.

"I've got this!" Neptune shouted. Sora gurgled beneath the sudden wave that had slammed into Nora, Ren, and him before slowly drifting down to the grass. He twitched, one hand to the sky as he lay on his back, half drowned. Neptune grimaced and laughed sheepishly. "Um... whoops."

"Good job, loser," Sun joked from where he was hanging.

"Guys, did you kill Sora?" Ruby asked as she jogged up, followed by her dad, Ozpin, Qrow, and Yang.

Ruby was dressed in new clothes, though the style was distinctly her. She had a grey, sweater like shirt on. It was beneath a black corset laced together with red stitching, itself beneath a black, gray, and red short sleeved jacket whose design reminded Sora of his own old jackets, save for the metal that was overlaid onto its left shoulder like armor. Her skirt was red, with a huge, black rose embroidered on the right side of the front that was partially hid by her corset. She had black stockings on that were tucked into black and red, knee high strap boots. Her cape was buckled into the lapels of the jacket by crosses and thorns.

What surprised Sora so much, however, was the weapon she was holding in her right hand. He forced himself to his feet and pointed at it. "Th-that's -"

"A Keyblade. Indeed Mr. Nomura," Ozpin said. Sora looked over at the man, who was leaning agaisnt a gear themed cane in his hands. He was wearing a new, dark green suit with a lighter green scarf wrapped so much around his throat. A small, cross shaped broach with an emerald at the center was in the center of it, aligned perfectly with the golden buttons of his suit. He was clean shaven, now, and had a pair of green sunglasses perched on the end of his nose. The man cocked his head to the side and tapped his cane against the ground again. "It would seem we have quite a lot to talk about, young man. And for that, I must apologize."

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _Twenty-four Years Prior to the First Great Keyblade War_

The young woman sprinted down the brightly lit streets of her home, a city by the name of Daybreak Town. The source of all light was shining far above the World, bathing everything in its brilliant light. It was much brighter during the day, appearing instead with a much more mellow glow at night. But, at the moment, the young woman was sprinting away from something entirely foreign to her. People were trying to attack her, to take what she held in her arms, books on the study of the great Kingdom Hearts and the light that it gave freely to the world. Or, more accurately, on the weapon that was hidden somewhere in town that was used to defend the Heart of the World from any and all non-existent threats. "Just give it to us, dammit!" one of the men shouted as he whirled the corner after her. The woman shrieked in fear and redoubled her efforts to get away, which was not the easiest thing to do when wearing long, flowing robes of pink and white. Sure, in Daybreak Town that color pairing was natural camouflage, but it didn't help when they were so close.

"Please, just leave me alone!" the young woman begged over her shoulder, her red and black eyes filled with tears and fear as she raced away as quickly as she could. She looked forward and clutched the books to her chest even tighter. "Please... just leave me alone!"

"Give us them books, girl!" the other man shouted, his heavy footsteps pounding against the pavement behind her, catching up fast. She ran as fast as she could and broke through into a side square of Daybreak Town, with a small assortment of people milling about. Her hood fell and revealed her snow white hair done up in a simple bun. Her lower lip was quivering as she stared at the two large men that were approaching her. They lumbered to a stop in front of her and held their hands out expectantly. "We've been promised a lot of Munny for them, kid. Hand it over and nobody gets hurt."

"I – I can't!" the girl shouted back, glancing around and begging for help from the people around her. None of them knew what to do, as events like this attack had become more and more common over the past months. Where once they had been rare occurrences performed only by the most demented and broken individuals, they now happened almost daily and were performed by many who could only be described as 'in their right minds.' Most people just ignored it, as far as the young woman had heard. And knew, now. No one was paying what was happening to her any mind. She bit her lower lip and glared at the two men. "Go away. Please. Y-you don't have to do this..!"

"If we want to get paid, yeah. Yeah we do," the man on the girl's left said. He was huge, probably almost six and a half feet tall with a shirt that barely fit over his huge muscles. In his right hand was a club of some sort, and it looked like it was made out of metal. Cruel, sharp points erupted from the surface of the weapon as he angled it towards the girl. "Give us them books or it'll be bad for you."

The girl backed away slowly, clutching the books ever tighter against her chest. "I – I can't!" she protested before her legs hit the fountain. Everyone was staring at her now as the men advanced on her, club and sword raised threateningly. She fell and was sitting on the edge of the fountain now, pleading. "Please..."

"Sorry, girl. It's the job," the man with the club said without any sort of apology in his voice. He raised his club and readied to slam it into the young woman's skull.

"Could you spare some change?"

The burly man turned around, slowly lowering his weapon in confusion. In front of him, a few paces away from him and his partner, was a boy around the same age as the girl. He had gray hair that dangled over green sun glasses over his eyes, which were searching blindly for anything to latch onto. He was wearing dark green clothes – a scarf that trailed down to his mid back and was marked with a plain, emerald cross broach. His shirt was almost black, matching his jeans and shoes. He was hunched over slightly, holding a green cane out and slapping it against the ground. The girl gasped. "Run!" she hissed at the blind boy, but this just earned her an angry glare from the man.

"Go away, Idjit," the man with the sword growled, walking towards the young man with blade out.

"Are you going to leave this girl alone?" the young man asked with a scared tone, gesturing in the woman's vague direction. The man with the sword laughed and raised his weapon to kill him.

The young man sighed and stood up straight. "Unfortunate," he said, his voice taking a much more brave and disdainful tone. The man with the sword stopped in his tracks, which was a foolish decision by all accounts. The young man had him wide open.

The cane flew up like a sword in the young man's hand, slamming into the thug's chin and forcing him to backpedal wildly. From there the young man ducked beneath the incoming club blow and forcefully poked his cane's tip into the gut of his second opponent. The man doubled over, leaving room for the green clad warrior to stand up at full speed and slam the top of his head into the thug's nose.

When the thug jumped in surprise and pain, the young warrior lashed out using his weapon for a two handed strike that caused the man to flip and land on his back, where a black boot slammed into the side of his head.

Without even a moment's hesitation, the young man turned on his heel and threw the cane he had been holding. The weapon twirled in the air, glistening in the light, and landed tip first in the throat of the man with the sword. It bounced off and the warrior jumped forward, catching it midair and rolling to his feet to deliver a powerful elbow strike to the swordsman's temple. The thug went from gasping for air to falling to his back, unconscious.

The young man stared at the bodies of his opponents for a moment, waiting for either of them to wake up and attack again. When no such assault came, he tossed the cane he'd been holding onto the chest of one of them and grinned triumphantly. "Losers," he said as he ran a hand through his hair and it became much wilder. He shot a disgusted look at the passerbys watching him, and they began to scurry away. With a scoff, the young man turned to look at the girl and smiled as friendly as he could. "You okay?"

The girl glanced between the two bodies and gulped nervously. "Th-thank you," she whispered. She yelped as the boy approached and scooted away.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you," the boy said, his smile softening. He reached out with one hand, offering to help her up. "I'm Ozpin. What have you got there?"

The girl turned to the side, trying to hide the books. Still, he saw the titles on the spine. " _Studies on the_ _ **χ**_ _-blade?_ " he asked, cocking his head to the side. He whistled, impressed. "How'd a student get their hands on a book that rare?"

"I'm... I was told to deliver it to one of the scholars on the other side of the town," the girl said, deciding that if he was going to steal the book, it wasn't like she could stop him. Besides, he could have taken it already.

"Cool," Ozpin supplied, letting his hand fall and instead sitting next to the girl.

They were quiet for a while. "How do you know this book is rare?"

"Well, almost nobody's even _seen_ the **χ** -blade, much less written about it," the kid explained with a shrug, staring up at the clear skies. He grinned sheepishly and looked over at the girl. "And my dad is a guard at the academy. He doesn't talk about it much or bring me with him usually, but I've seen that book a few times in the library when I break in."

"You what!?" the girl snapped in surprise.

"What? I get bored sometimes," he replied with a shrug. He grinned at the girl. "Don't you..."

She frowned and looked away. "Eh, forget I asked," Ozpin replied. He began to stare at the sky again, bathing in the light.

"Why did you save me?" the girl asked, glancing over her shoulder distrustfully. She eyed the boy's confused glare. "Why did you fight those guys?" She gestured at the still unconscious thugs with her head.

"Why wouldn't I?" Ozpin asked earnestly. His face grew sarcastic. "Should I not have? Are you evil and dangerous, because I didn't get that vibe when you tried to warn a blind kid to run away."

The girl blushed, cheeks ablaze, and turned away from Ozpin. She buried her face in the tops of the books for a while, then sighed and lifted it. "Salem. My name is Salem," she supplied in a quiet voice, not turning to look at the boy.

Ozpin looked over. "Salem, eh? Nice to meet you." He groaned and stood up, gesturing with his hand for the girl to follow. "Well, we better deliver that book, huh?"

"What?" Salem asked, looking up in surprise at Ozpin's smiling visage. "You'd help me? Why?"

"We're friends, right?" He laughed and began to walk off with hands in his pockets.

Salem smiled and blushed, her cheeks turning a soft pink. Then she looked up and noticed he was already all the way across the square. "Oz! Wait for me!" she shouted.

"Ugh, don't call me Oz! That's a terrible nickname," the boy groaned as she caught up to him, book still clutched in her arms. "How would you feel if I called you 'Sal?'"

"You won't, Oz," Salem responded smugly, walking past him.

Ozpin blushed when she could no longer see him and disguised it with a boisterous laugh. "Maybe not, but nobody calls me 'Oz.'"

"We'll see, Oz."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora was sitting down, his friends all sitting around or leaning against the walls around him. They were giving Sora worried looks, like they didn't know how he was going to respond to all the things that had happened to him. Ruby especially looked worried, which made Sora feel terrible given he had lied to her. Ozpin stood at the head of the room with a coffee in one hand and his cane in the other, while Taiyang and Qrow leaned against opposite walls and bridging the gap between children and ancient wizard. "Mister Nomura, you are probably wondering even more than the others what is happening. Aside from the actions of Mister Arc, or the events that specifically deal with Miss Rose, recent events have the largest effect on _you_. After all, young man, for your peers what you have learned is merely a hidden history that was revealed to them, one so long ago it changes little about what must be done." Ozpin took a few steps forward and fiddled absently with his cane. "I have a certain appreciation for your situation, one with which I have had to come to terms myself."

Sora rubbed his wounded shoulder sadly. "So it's true, then? They're really gone?"

Ozpin glanced at the ground. "Many of the events that you took part in have become stories and legends in the culture of the Remnant, in no small part due to something that I found within the first months of my stay on the Remnant. A book, filled with the stories of a great adventurer and Keyblade Wielder. Your story."

"Wait, that's what the _Key of Fate_ book or whatever it was called was about?" Sun asked from his lounging position as he snacked on a banana.

" _Key of Destiny_ ," Ozpin corrected, but he nodded. "Yes. The original transcript is currently safe in Vale, and it contains all of the information that I removed from the manuscript I published eighty five years ago. The Heartless that Sora encountered over the course of years, the individuals he met, and the events that transpired around them all. I used them to craft the first stories that would inspire generations of children and warriors to save the World."

"But how? It was about the Keyblade War. The one that -"

Ozpin shook his head, cutting off Sora. "I knew those events well. While not dissimilar, the events described in the book have... very distinct differences. No, it is a journal and account of _your_ life, Mister Nomura."

"Jiminy's Journal..." Sora muttered. He looked up at Ozpin. "The original book – it's Jiminy's Journal then, isn't it?"

"That is the name that I found upon them, along with a dedication. 'To the only one of us who may have survived – Sora, we never forgot you, buddy,'" Ozpin quoted with a sad smile. He took a quick drink of his coffee to break the tension in his head, then continued. "They knew you had survived, or at least believed it. Given that the book survived, it is likely many of your friends did. There were already legends of the Demon Winged Angel and the Golden Mouse by the time I had arrived."

"Riku and Mickey," Sora finished. The young man nodded silently for a long while.

"Those are like nursery rhymes nowadays," Sun said, eyes full of wonder. "Legend was that the Golden Mouse – your friend Mickey was the first Faunus hero, from before... stuff. You _knew_ him?"

"They made a cartoon about the Demon Winged Angel!" Nora shouted excitedly before she began to hum an old theme song.

"I had pajamas of him!" Ren noted suddenly, drawing a weird look from Sora.

"I believe the original manuscript should belong to you," Ozpin said, cutting off any more fanboy-ing and fangirl-ing. "You are the closest thing to next of kin that there could be for them, now."

Sora smiled graciously, but soon began to wonder about other things. "What is Salem? What are you? Really?"

Ozpin sighed and looked over at Qrow, holding out his coffee expectantly. "I'm clean, Oz," Qrow supplied with a shrug. Ozpin glared at Qrow in a combination of approval and disbelief.

He turned to look at Tai, who sighed and nodded. "I'll go get you some whiskey," the blonde muttered before walking away to open the door and leave. He came back a few minutes later and began to pour the bottle into Ozpin's coffee.

"Thank you, Taiyang," the old man muttered, suddenly sounding his age as he thought back on his terrible past. "As I said, I am quite familiar with the events of the First Keyblade War. A series of events that resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocents at the hands of those sworn to defend them. I suppose you could refer to me as a veteran of that war, and maybe even as the one responsible for it." Ozpin looked around at the confused faces of the other children and even the adults. "Long ago, there was only Light in the World. It was full of warmth. Then it started to... cast a shadow. During my child hood in a place called Daybreak Town, the only dangers were those that were natural. Animals, disasters. It was not until I came to be your age that it changed, and the Darkness that was most threatening to people was that of the Darkness within Hearts. People began to covet the Light for themselves, desiring the power that it brought. Salem and I were..." Ozpin's voice fell away and he bit the inside of his cheek. After another moment, he took a drink of the alcohol infused coffee and cleared his throat. "Salem created the first Keyblades, seven of them, and told me they could be used to fix the Darkness in the World. I accepted this, and gave six of them to my students. The one Xehanort used – it was one of those weapons. The first, and the one I had given to my most trusted student."

Ozpin sighed and took another drink. "She created the oldest Keyblades and many of the most powerful ones. Her pride was the one she took from you, a weapon with the impulse to seek out the strongest Heart in all of creation and bond to it." Ozpin stared Sora in the eye, and said, "Your Heart was indeed mighty, but the weapons she created have always remained loyal to her."

"So I'm..." Sora let the unspoken question hang in the air. "I'm not getting it back, am I?"

Ozpin sighed. "It's doubtful," he responded apologetically.

"But we can't give up," Ruby said confidently. "We're going to stop whatever she has planned and save the world!"

"Indeed, Miss Rose," Ozpin agreed, visibly glad that he could talk about something other than Sora's state. "The World is on a precipice, precisely where Salem wishes it to be. One push to either side and everything will follow suit. Unfortunately, she has many avenues to take towards victory, which means we must guard them all. Taiyang will travel to find the other Maidens, ensure that the two of them are still alive. _If_ they are still alive."

"I'd protest, but my daughters wouldn't let me go with them anyways," the blonde grumbled. He shrugged. "Fine."

Ozpin nodded. "Miss Rose, I believe it is time for your team mates to return to the fold," Ozpin stated. Ruby's eyes widened and she began to look nervous. "Do not worry, they wait for you. Miss Rose, you will travel to Atlas to find Miss Schnee. She will be incredibly necessary to finding a way to sway her father from his current course of action and in investigating what is happening in Atlas' government now. Qrow, Mister Vasilias, Miss Xiao Long – you will travel with her. I believe you all have your own business in Atlas you must tend to, as well."

"Then who's gonna be looking for Blake?" Sun asked suddenly, barely able to contain the excitement in his voice. He was bouncing up and down in his seat with a scared smile.

"You, Mister Wukong, will aid Sora, Mister Lie, Miss Valkyrie, and myself in traveling to Vale where we will search for Miss Belladonna and look into the creature that has invaded my school," Ozpin said bitterly; his eyes flashed a hard green. Then he smiled softly and turned to Yang. "I believe you said you have a home in Vale, yes?"

"Oh, now I'd look like a jerk if I didn't offer it," Yang grumbled in half a joke. She shrugged. "Take it."

"Thank you, Miss Xiao Long," Ozpin said, smiling sympathetically at the young woman.

Ozpin looked up. "Now, I need to speak to Mister Nomura alone," he explained, ignoring the intrigued look of Qrow. "He deserve explanations only he would truly understand and appreciate." No one moved. "Go."

The word was not said forcefully, but it carried enough weight behind it that everyone left the room to prepare for their journeys. "I'm sorry, Yang," Ruby whispered as she gave the other woman a sad hug.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" The blonde asked. Her face was graced with semi-teary smile. "Mom died proving Dad was wrong – she did love us." Yang gave her sister another hug, then grabbed her hand and walked away. She winked at Sora over her shoulder, and the young man was made even more uncomfortable yet again.

Ruby rolled her eyes at her sister's antics and shoved her away with a laugh. She looked over her shoulder and waved at Sora. He smiled softly and waved back before she left he room. When the door finally shut, the room was completely silent.

"Was I the one who -" Sora began.

"Who killed Raven? No," Ozpin interjected sympathetically. He walked over to Sora and sat beside the boy, tapping his cane against the ground over and over again. "Salem was the one who is guilty of that particular sin. Your hands are free of blood, if not terror."

Sora breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God," he muttered breathlessly. He glanced at the ground and spun his thumbs around one another. "I was scared that I'd hurt someone when I was..." His mind flashed back to his nightmares from when he had been in his Anti Form. "That."

Ozpin nodded but remained otherwise silent. "Sora," he finally said. The young man turned to look at the ancient warrior then gestured with one hand for the silent Ozpin to continue. "I believe this should belong with you." He reached down to his belt beneath the tail of his coat and pulled out a white hilt and crossguard for a broken sword.

"Jaune's sword?" Sora asked. He shook his head. "No. Nuh uh. Ren, or Nora. His dad. One of them, it should go to one of them!"

"Mister Arc's team mates agreed that you should be the one using the weapon, at least for the time being. You and I will go to Signal tomorrow to build you a weapon for our trip to Vale. One you can use until -" Ozpin frowned and glanced away from Sora. When he looked back at the young man, his face was grave. "When a Heart is reborn, the memories of the Soul that it had once accompanied are wiped away. The Heart is made into a blank slate and readied for its new life and new Soul. Where the Soul goes... I do not know. But back to Hearts."

Ozpin stood up and walked to the nearest table, placing the mug on it and leaning against the wall. He peered down at Sora over the tops of his glasses' rims. "Sometimes, powerful Hearts are capable of holding on to the imprints of important memories. Love, enemies, friends. Even one's appearance " Ozpin explained to the young man. "For instance, Ruby is a Princess of Heart, which only increases the strength of her natural abilities. Her Heart was imprinted with memories of you, as I've learned. Vague, but memories nonetheless."

Sora processed this for a moment and then stopped breathing. "She's Kairi?" he asked.

"No. Kairi was an individual's Soul. The Heart of the Princess moved on as it has since the end of the First War, taking fragments of memory and personality important enough to become etched on the Heart through every life it has lived," Ozpin muttered calmly. He shook his head dismissively. "But that is not the Heart I would deem important right now. She must be defended, true, but she has the strength to do so herself. I wish to speak of your Heart, actually."

"Why mine? I'm just..."

"A young, normal boy. Yes. And no," Ozpin countered simply. He cocked his head to the side and studied Sora for a short while, taking in the boy's confused stare. "You have his eyes and hair, his smile. You look just like him."

"Who?" Sora asked, having gotten used to the cryptic stuff over the past few years. "Do I have the same Heart as your best friend from high school?"

"My greatest student. My heir," Ozpin said as if it were the most normal thing in the world to say. "I eventually began to wield a Keyblade I made on my own, a weapon not dissimilar to the Kingdom Key. Perhaps slightly more powerful, if I am correct. Before I became aware of Salem's moral failings, I had learned one of my apprentices had become obsessed with Darkness. I knew that... 'you,' for lack of a better term, were beyond reproach. So I gave to you the one thing you could use to protect your friends – my other students – from the one among them who would betray the others. My personal Keyblade, known as the Master Keeper."

"Okay," Sora said with an blank shrug. "Why didn't you use it against Salem?"

"It was lost to me for millennia. I thought it destroyed in the Shattering," the man muttered hollowly. "And then I gave up any Keyblade when I created the Maidens, separating – I can no longer use a Keyblade at all."

"Why is this important, then?" Sora inquired, staring obliviously at the other man the entire time.

"Keyblades form connections with Hearts, immutable ones that cannot be wiped away unless they are given up. You know that," Ozpin muttered. He looked up at Sora and smiled. "My Keyblade was not destroyed, as I thought it was, it instead lies within you Sora. You can still use that Keyblade."


	22. Promise?

**AN: Salvete omnes!**

 **Quick correction: The Keyblade I partially based Ruby's off of is the property of** ** _Essynthesis_** **on Deviantart** ** _._** **Sorry, I found the original page and finished writing the last AN at like... 3 in the morning. The differences are with the direction of the blade facing towards the teeth, the basket around the handle being rose vines instead, two pillars of metal connecting handle and teeth, and the Keychain itself. Sorry, I really should have seen that sooner.**

 **On another avenue, last chapter changed the average of Reviews per Chapter from 5(rounded down) to 6. Thanks guys!**

 **To Gravenimage: Obviously. Yang may not be the normal kind of protective, but that doesn't mean she isn't protective.**

 **To Grimlock987: First, let's go with Lingering Will. Since I assume Terra will regain his body by the end of KH3, the Lingering Will – despite being an awesome character – will probably be gone by the end of the game. Terra might cameo as one of the legends like the others, but not as a living character. As for Genie, I'm not one hundred percent sure yet in that regard. I have a few cameos running around in my head for when Ruby's group is in Atlas, and I'm wondering if Genie is going to be one of them, as well as if Emerald is going to run into him if I do.**

 **To gamelover41592: I chose Nomura for Sora's last name because of Tetsuya Nomura creating him from the start. Seemed like the right family name for Sora.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Raven's Heartless is going to be a problem for everybody, more specifically the group traveling to Atlas. Of course, Heartless have a side effect when they're created, so it won't be the only thing stalking them. As for Oz's story, I plan on revealing it piece by piece as he reveals things to Sora .**

 **To goddragonking: Thanks!**

 **To 7: I agree, and that's going to come into play later. Still, a lot of people would do terrible things for the people they love the most, even if those people would hate them for it.**

 **To sethman610: I originally planned on having Ansem be the Heartless there, but then I remembered that the only reason that Xehanort retained his sense of self as a Heartless was because he purposefully gave up his Heart to become Ansem. In this case, he didn't plan on becoming a Heartless so I assumed it would result in him being different this time around.**

 **To Guest(A): No worries, I get it. Salem in this isn't just another character, though, as we'll see. Since Xehanort's Keyblade is supposed to be the oldest one, I guess you could say she's responsible for everything. As for Ruby, I've been hinting at it and I'll be explaining it more in depth in the next few chapters. Sora's only weak right now because of all the stuff he's learned recently, and how his Keyblade is now in the hands of the enemy. Even his heart has to break sometime, right? I haven't caught up on DBZ or Super yet, but I've heard... mixed things. Gohan's a fair bit weaker from his DBZ days, and it's basically for no reason? I can understand where you'd see parallels, to be fair. Maybe I should have been louder when I was describing the reasons in-story.**

 **To Jidojang: Thanks. I'm happy that everything makes sense in the integrated backstory so far. So, yes, Ozpin in this story was at one point the first Keyblade Master and the man who assigned the five Foretellers their weapons and their new names. I assumed that the First Keyblade Master would have used the Master Keeper(which, according to Google, was what the Master's Defender was once called) passed down to Eraqus and Aqua. Given that Xehanort's Keyblade is so old, looks like a Foreteller Keyblade, and is seen where young Xehanort and Eraqus play chess in the KH3 trailer, it seems like the mysterious sixth student likely inherited the master-ship from that guy. If I'm right at least.**

 **To Guest(B): I'm sorry, but I am not nearly as artistically skilled as I wish I was and I don't know anyone who is. If I could help at all, I would. Would a description of its future Scythe form help at all? It's essentially just a folded up version of what that's going to be.**

 _ **Chapter 22: Promise?**_

Signal Academy was a rather impressive campus, with spires of blue topped with crystal that arched upwards to scratch at the clouds far above, the light of the gleaming sun casting not shadows to the ground but blue light that shone through the roofs of the buildings and gave the campus a distinctly ethereal feel. True, the school was not nearly as impressive as its older sibling, Beacon, had been from far away, nor as shining as Haven had been, but it was more than enough for those training within the battle school's halls. Sora even found himself gazing up in wonder at the spires and wondering just what was going on within the towering buildings. Ozpin, however, did not seem to care. He was walking ahead of Sora with his cane held halfway down its length in his right hand. The older man's eyes glanced about, full of caution, as he scanned their surroundings. Sora once would have thought that Ozpin's dedication to worry was mere paranoia, but his own recent dealings with Salem had given him the distinct impression that the woman was much more clever than Sora gave her credit.

Sora sighed and closed his eyes, knowing that if Salem did pop out all of a sudden he wouldn't be much help. Not only did he not have a Keyblade to fight with at the moment, neither did he even have a weapon. Instead, the young man began to enjoy the feeling of the sunlight warming his face. It had only been a couple days since he had woken up, and Ozpin had told him he should wait another day or two before going anywhere, but they did not have the time for that. That worked well for Sora, who had wanted to start doing something – anything – to make up for what he had done under Salem's control. And, if he was being honest, he wanted his usual tan back. Pale didn't work well for him.

After a moment, Ozpin piped up. "We have reached our destination, Sora. The Armorer Tower," the man said, stopping before Sora opened his eyes so that the young man accidentally stumbled into his back. Ozpin received a sheepish grin from the young man when he turned around, but ignored it and continued to speak. "Are you sure you wish to use the hilt of Mister Arc's blade?"

Sora pulled the remains of the weapon from his new belt and examined the notched hilt before nodding. He believed that it felt right to use Jaune's weapon until discovering this Keyblade that Ozpin had described. Sora wanted everyone to know that, even if Jaune was beyond their reach right then, Sora would be holding onto his friend's Heart until they got him back. "I wouldn't have it any other way," Sora said finally, letting his hand fall to his side so he could clip the weapon to his belt once more. "This way I can give it back to Jaune when we get him back." Ozpin considered the young man's words for a moment before nodding almost imperceptibly and turning around to enter the building.

As the older man left, Sora caught sight of himself in one of the Armorer's windows. His old clothes had been destroyed following his turn into the Anti-Form, the pure Darkness that had coated him destroying most of it and his friends' self defense pushing it beyond repair. Again, the only two things to survive were the only two things that still linked him to his long dead past. One, a Wayfinder composed of shells from his island home, the other a small silver necklace in the shape of a crown. Both were the most important gifts from his now dead friends.

Other than those two things, his clothes were completely new but ones he'd felt like it was right to wear. He had a black hoodie with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows. Metallic pauldrons sat atop his shoulders and black and red checkerboard was present on the inside of the jacket's collar. Beneath that he wore a tight, gray shirt above two tone pants, the lower legs appearing an almost beige colored gray and the upper part deep black. His shoes were black with yellow straps instead of laces and his hands were covered by fingerless gloves, plain black and made of a warm cloth that came with a good grip – unlike the Keyblade, Crocea Mors' hilt did not have the ability to magically stay in hand despite the smoothness of its hilt. Above only his left wrist was a black and white checkerboard wristband. After a moment of clutching the necklace at his throat, Sora shook his head and followed Ozpin in.

Ozpin was waiting a few stairs up, cane resting on the step. Young warriors, weapons on their backs, gave the dead man odd looks when they passed him. When the warrior caught sight of Sora, he began to walk up the stairs without a word. Sora loped after him, turning his pace into a jog so he could catch up. "So Ruby went here?" Sora asked when he fell in step with Ozpin.

The man looked over at Sora from the corner of his eyes. "Indeed. She was halfway through her studies here before I met her," Ozpin said. He looked forward again. "She impressed me more than almost any student I had met thus far, though I suppose that it is no wonder, given who her mother was. Her intense skill was no doubt also helped by the fact that her uncle and father both taught here prior to the events at the Vytal Festival. She is the product of the best students I have trained on the Remnant."

Sora nodded. He'd met Raven and Qrow, seen them both battle, and even fought the latter. From personal experience, he knew that they were both incredibly dangerous and skilled fighters. He could only assume that it was the same for Taiyang. Ruby said her dad had trained Yang, and she said Yang was something to witness. "What about those people you trained... back then?" Sora asked, and he immediately knew he had struck a nerve.

Ozpin's eyes grew steely and he sped up almost imperceptibly. It was like he was running from his past. "I am sure that I will need to divulge this information soon – quite soon – Mister Nomura," the man said with little more than a cursory glance at the young man. "But it is not a chapter of my life that I like to discuss, and I do not wish for you to see behind the curtain of my past until you understand me as a man. I doubt you have so easily looked past the machine I attempted to use on Miss Nikos, hm?"

Sora glanced at the ground warily. He had forgotten about that, and now that he remembered... it was a Dark thing to accept from a man who was meant to be a mentor to him. Sora shook his head and elicited a smirk from Oz. "Understandable."

Sora decided to change the topic of conversation. "So this Keyblade... I'm not going to have to do what Salem said, right? Shatter someone's Heart?" he asked.

"No. Once the first Keyblade was created, new ones started to appear in the hands of those worthy of them. It was as if the World understood that new warriors were needed to defend the Light from what Salem had created. In the Journal, I believe that I found that your friend Riku formed one from fragments slowly assembled throughout his life. And, besides, the Master Keeper – or Master Defender, depending on whom you ask – already exists. You merely need to understand how to summon it."

"Then why bother making this weapon when I could be learning that?" Sora inquired.

"Learning to summon a Keyblade for the first time is an incredibly trying process," the green clad warrior explained. "You stumbled upon a Keyblade once before, which means teaching you will likely take even more time than usual. You think you already know what to do, but this weapon does not slumber in the same part of your Heart as the Kingdom Key did. Trial and error will constitute most of your training."

Ozpin seemed to answer the next question before Sora even asked it. "Miss Rose crafted her Keyblade through an entirely different method than usual. Her Heart cannot be shattered or fragmented, given its nature as a piece of the **χ** -blade. Nor would she ever shatter the Heart of another, even on accident," the man explained. Sora raised an eyebrow – how far up this tower did they have to walk? Ozpin stopped suddenly, as if answering yet another of Sora's questions, and gestured at the door to their right: they were at their destination. Sora opened the door and saw that the room he had just entered was incredibly large. There were incredibly large Scrolls attached to the walls around the room, each connected to very different machines. In the center of the room was a machine much larger than any of the others. "But I suppose this explanation will have to wait. There are more immediate matters to deal with."

"What are all of these?" the former Keyblade Wielder asked the Headmaster, walking over to the machine in the center of the room. As he approached, he saw a control Scroll implanted into the side of the machine and lightly tapped the swirling cubes. They stopped moving, and one opened into a menu. Sora read from the list. "'Material, color, transformation..."

Ozpin walked to Sora's side and lightly pushed him away, cycling down the list of options before finally selecting one. The machine in the center of the room slid open soundlessly, revealing an internal piece that looked remarkably like an anvil, save for the bright blue lights that littered its body lights on it lit up suddenly and . "Place the hilt on the anvil and we can begin to craft your weapon," Ozpin said. He gestured with his left hand at the anvil. "Quickly, Mister Nomura."

Sora nodded and pulled the piece of the weapon from his belt. He examined it with both hands and frowned resolutely at the thought of his lost friend. Eventually, he gingerly put it on the anvil. The lights on the machine lit up suddenly, and the anvil lowered slowly back into its main body; the doors slid closed noiselessly. "Now what?"

Ozpin looked around the room, holding his arms out as he did as if to gesture at every machine present. "Usually, I would have you hand craft the individual pieces of your new weapon, in order to give it a personal feel," Ozpin explained before walking to a random machine. This one had a series of blades that extended out from the side in contact with the wall, giving it a sharp look. "But we neither have time for that, nor is it necessary for a weapon you aim to soon replace. You will feed in a design to the Scrolls, and they in turn will build the individual pieces. We will then move each one to the central Forge and assemble the complete weapon. And, of course, match it to your personal style as you desire."

Sora nodded and moved towards the Scroll, hoping inspiration would hit him. "I understand your trepidation. When I surrendered my Keyblade so long ago, it was difficult to consider the possibility of using another weapon," Ozpin told Sora sympathetically. "Allow me to gift you this advice, young man – what feels right is likely that which _is_."

Sora glanced at his feet and bit the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. "Okay," he said when he finally came to an idea he found acceptable. The weapon was of this new World, which meant that it should look the part. But it was also his weapon, which meant it should look like his past. Only one thing in his head could follow both of those rules. Sora traced a design into the Scroll interface, a plainly shaped blade with deep grooves running down its length and jagged shapes cut out of the edges. He selected the material of the blade, a tough material good for both heavy two handed strikes and fast one handed attacks. "We're done here," he said over his shoulder as he pressed the 'Send' button.

Ozpin nodded and the two of them walked towards the next machine down the line, this one marked by the visages of different weapon handles – guns, swords, scythes. The one containing the blade of Sora's new weapon began to whir and buzz, machines in the interior taking a chunk of metal and cutting it into shape. They stopped before the next machine and Sora input the shape of the basket as best he could remember it – a trapezoid shape with two cylinders erupting at a 45 degree angle from where the blade connected with the hilt. It was made of the same material as the blade. Sora finished up and went to the third and final machine wordlessly. Ornaments, this one was labeled with more elegant designs.

Sora thought it through for a moment, wondering if he should recreate the Keychain of the weapon as well, but decided against it. As he planned to return to Ozpin and continue their original conversation, he stopped and turned back to the interface. He needed a promise. Sora traced a design into the screen, selecting a mostly clear material that could easily change colors later, then dragged a copy count upward to the number 45. After that, he added in a few other choice shapes. His hands didn't waver for even a moment when he pressed the 'Send' button.

"What did you just make so many of, young man?" Ozpin asked with one eyebrow raised.

"I'll tell you later," Sora explained with a shrug and smile. He walked towards Ozpin, who was now standing beside the central machine as they waited for the other three to finish their jobs. They stood silently for a while before Sora finally asked his question. "So how did Ruby manage to make her Keyblade?"

Ozpin glanced down at the young man with only his eyes, tinting them green through his glasses. "When I first arrived here, the substance known as Dust confused me to no end," Ozpin began, "as it was so different from almost any substance I had found before. It gave off properties remarkably similar to magic, though there was no magic present in the World. Even still I have only theories, though I would like to believe that more than twelve hundred years of life on this Remnant would make my theories very close to the truth."

"So... you don't know?" Sora asked dumbly. "And everyone says you know everything."

Ozpin chuckled at this and nodded. "Indeed. But I believe I am right nonetheless," he responded. He allowed a smile to grace his features. "When I found the Journal, I came to believe in the hypothesis that the Shattering of Kingdom Hearts destroyed more than just the worlds. When the World was fragmented the first time, thousands of Keyblades were left upon a single battlefield -"

"I've been there!" Sora shouted excitedly. "The... Keyblade Graveyard, I think. That's where I fought Xehanort."

"Ah, that would lend more credence to my theory, then," Ozpin muttered. He shook his head and smiled at Sora again. "The Keyblades left there were still fragments of Hearts and thus contained all the power that goes with that. The Shattering of Kingdom Hearts, it would seem, shattered the decaying weapons below. I am quite sure that Dust is all that remains of the different Keyblades left on that battlefield following the War. It certainly explains why you could use Dust to transform yourself so drastically."

"What does this have to do with Ruby, though?" Sora interjected, placing his hands on the back of his head. "Dust is Keyblades?"

"Ruby is a Silver Eyed warrior, beings who have an innate control over the most powerful forms of Dust because they are born with an incredibly high concentrations in their bloodstream." Ozpin tossed his cane into his left hand before continuing. "Combined with the incredible purity of her Heart, this makes the young woman's Holy and Light magic abilities far beyond what even I could have done at my peak. Why her eyes glow each time she uses magic. And it also is why your Keyblade reacted to her with such familiarity – like recognizes like. I believe you can put two and two together from here..."

Sora put one hand on his chin and frowned. "She made it from the Dust in her body, then? She remade the Keyblade from the fragments she was born with." Ozpin nodded and motioned for Sora to continue formulating his own hypothesis. Sora continued by asking a question instead, much to Ozpin's delight. "But why didn't she get it earlier then? She obviously deserved it."

Ozpin smiled, and when he spoke his voice communicated his pride in the young man: "Very good question. From my understanding the ability to use a Keyblade disappeared shortly after the Shattering. As to the reason for this, I am unsure. Salem's Keyblade was with you, hurtling through time after she left it behind. I surrendered my Keyblade shortly after I arrived here. After that, no Keyblade appeared ever again." He placed his hand on Sora's shoulder. "I believe that your appearance changed that. Much as the creation of the first Keyblades brought natural ones into being, your reappearance signaled their return. Keyblades alter Destiny, Mister Nomura, and the Kingdom Key especially is a sign of great change. By spending time around Miss Rose, I believe you awoke her inherent abilities through the mere existence of your own. Similarly for Mister Arc, if Salem's promises are not empty." There was a loud beep as the machines finished their duties. Ozpin looked up and his face slowly became a smirk. "Ah, and just as my explanation ended. My sense of timing has yet to deteriorate."

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _Twenty-two years prior to the First Great Keyblade War_

"... Mff fame cfee-bay -" Salem continued to speak as she stuffed more food in her mouth, much to the amusement of her old friend who sat across from her at the table in an abandoned side square of town – the one where they had met, actually. Ozpin just smiled as she continued to stuff the first food she'd eaten in days down her throat. When she continued to speak, it was through her overly stuffed mouth. "Dere'f fumfin' eff id dere!" She swallowed and began to speak, but she stuffed food into her mouth before she could speak again. "Fumfin' dat ivn't wife!"

"Ah, yes. 'Fumfin' dat ivn't wife.' I see exactly what you mean," the young man half mocked, leaning back in his seat. His olive green jacket crinkled lightly and fell open over his black shirt. Of course, his scarf and broach were still beneath his chin, though he'd taken to roping it more tightly around his throat so it wouldn't dangle. A fight he'd gotten in helping Salem deliver a book had almost ended poorly when his opponent had grabbed the loose tail of the accessory and nearly strangled him with it. He'd only been saved when Salem, who he'd since been teaching how to fight, slammed the heavy tome she was carrying into the back of their attacker's head. "You certainly have a beautiful way with words, Salem."

The young woman swallowed her food and scowled at him, crossing her arms over her chest. For the past few months, she had forgone her robes for the more economic – albeit still brightly colored – clothes that would be useful in a fight. A brown satchel was hanging from the edge of her seat. "Ha ha. Can you understand me now, Oz?" she asked.

Ozpin scowled for a moment. "How many times do I have to ask you to _not_ call me Oz? It's been two years of this, Salem!" His protests fell on deaf ears and were gifted a smirk in reply. He sighed and picked up a biscuit he had brought off of the table, stuffing it into his mouth. When Salem just continued to smirk at him, Ozpin just motioned for her to continue.

"You should understand your place a little better," Salem said jokingly. Ozpin's scowl deepened and she laughed again. "Fine, fine. So, like I was saying, I was chosen to study the **χ** -blade when it appeared. Now, I can't tell you where it is, but... I think I've found something out! Something no one at the academy even believes me when I talk about it!"

"You see what impressive things I could congratulate you for if you ever decided to speak without food in your mouth?" Ozpin asked after swallowing his food. He threw his arms up and shook his head. "How could someone so small have such a big stomach that she can't wait ten seconds without eating?"

"Can we concentrate on the important thing here? The **χ** -blade is _real_. And I have touched it," Salem said proudly, beaming over at her best friend. Her red and black eyes were filled with joy and perceived superiority. Her ponytail was swaying slightly – she was dancing subconsciously. "This is big – huge! I've researched it, read about it, and looked at every drawing of it from one end of town to the other, but now I've actually examined it! So can I please tell you what I want to tell you or should I go look for another one of my friends?"

"Which one? Face it – you and me are all we've got for real friends," Ozpin responded with a dry grin. "Everyone else is... work buddies."

Salem frowned. "You really know how to make a girl feel special, Oz," she muttered angrily. Ozpin only shrugged, earning an angry head shake from Salem. "Whatever. The big thing isn't that I've touched the **χ** -blade though, it's that I think that there's something in there. Something that isn't Light!"

"I don't understand the language you're speaking," Ozpin said, mock confusion overtaking his features. Then, as if a lightbulb had flashed above his head, he leaned forward and smiled an open mouthed grin. "Wait, do you mean 'Fumfin dat ivn't wife?'"

"Jerk."

"You know you love me." Ozpin grinned while leaning back. Salem blushed and her pupils drifted into the left lower corner of her eyes. "Aw, it's written all over your face."

"Jerk," Salem repeated.

Ozpin appreciated the silence for a while, smiling at his friend's intense blush. Eventually, he decided that it wasn't worth her getting all angry just for a laugh. "Okay, if it isn't Light, what is it? The thing protects Kingdom Hearts, right, and that's all Light. What else could there be?"

"That's just it, I don't know!" Salem said, suddenly animated all over again. Her eyes were filled with a fire which rarely graced them. "It's... so different! It has nothing in common with Light. Whatever it is, it's cold and angry and... powerful." The look in Salem's eyes became one of hunger. "I want to know more about it. Maybe it could..."

"What's the World coming to?" Ozpin asked the air with a frown. He looked back down at Salem, his face now soaked with worry for his friend. "Look, whatever it is, you be careful. For all we know, this stuff that you found might be connected to why things are getting so bad. I don't want you getting hurt by something we don't understand. Like I said, I have no other friends, Salem."

"Oh, that's so unscientific," the girl muttered dismissively. She glared at her friend like he was an idiot. "I mean, really? This is why people are acting so bad now? Something I _just_ discovered?"

"I worry," Ozpin responded forcefully. He leaned forward and gazed right into Salem's eyes. "Sorry that I care what happens to you. But, if you really want, I can stop. I'd certainly have to worry less, given I'd no longer have to hang around a virtual trouble magnet." Ozpin appreciated the dry glare of his friend. "Okay. Fine. But I've done more than my share of tests on things before, Salem. It's scientific to be cautious, and to recognize coincidences don't usually happen."

"I get it. You _love_ me," Salem taunted, turning the tables on her friend and sniggering at the deepening blush in his cheeks.

"Shut it," Ozpin growled, annoyed.

"You _looooove_ -"

"Shush!" Ozpin snapped, standing up and grabbing Salem's face. He was glancing at the ground, concentrating hard as if he was trying to hear something very quiet.

"Let go of me," Salem hissed when she tore his hand from her mouth. She glared at him and crossed her arms. "Oz, if you wanted me to stop you could have said... Oh, I guess you did. Never mind."

"Sh!" Ozpin hissed, covering her mouth again. His eyes widened behind his sunglasses and he ran away from the woman as quickly as he could, sprinting down one alleyway and picking up a metal rod that was leaning against one wall. He disappeared from Salem's line of sight a few moments later.

"Where are you goi – And he's gone," Salem muttered to herself. She sighed and picked up another biscuit, stuffing it into her mouth before chasing her friend down. "Oz! Oz, what are you doing!?" She received no response, aside from the continuing pattering of her friend's feet against the cobblestone streets. "Oz, what's -" She slid to a stop with wide eyes and chuckled nervously. Oz was holding the metal pipe out in front of him like a sword, clearly issuing a challenge to the two other grown men in the alleyway.

One was tall and skinny with long pink locks of hair running down his back. He didn't look much older than Oz or Salem, if at all. He held in his right hand what looked like a farming sickle, though Salem heavily doubted that he had ever used it for something as mundane as farming. The man was staring at the two of them with a condescending sneer. The other was a shorter, stockier man with black hair that dangled into his feral yellow eyes. His hands together held a single hammer that looked heavy enough to take someone's head off with a single clean hit.

In between the two of them was a single young boy maybe fifteen or sixteen years younger than Salem or Oz. He was staring up at the two of them defiantly, his blue eyes not betraying any fear that they may have contained. The child had spiky brown hair matted down with dirt and blood, though it didn't seem to deter him from wanting to pick a fight. His hands were curled up into small, angry fists. "I do not expect that it would take two armed men to face down a single child. He must be very special to scare the two of you like that," Ozpin mocked. His makeshift weapon didn't even quiver in front of him as the two criminals growled and took a half step towards him.

"I wouldn't do that," Salem warned, coming up beside him and trying to look as fearsome as she could. She raised her arms in a battle stance and set her feet like Oz had told her to.

"What the hell are you?" the pink haired one asked, his weapon slowly rising so the rounded blade was pointed at Salem. Her red-black eyes and bone pale skin tended to have that effect on people, cowing both of the thugs and causing them to raise their weapons at her in fear. "Freak."

"I feel like I should be insulted," Salem muttered quietly. She shook her head and grinned. "Boo!" She raised her hands and made a scary face. Both of the men jumped away in fear, squealing as the flinched. "Ha ha ha! Wow, they must have jumped three feet. What do you think, Oz, a new record?"

"Now is not the time," Ozpin said, growing serious. He always got this way when he was in a fight. The young man was busy examining their opponents, calculating what moves he would make, how they would respond, and vice versa. Even two years earlier, when they had met, he'd basically lost any ability to emote until his fight with the thugs threatening Salem had been finished.

"You know, we're gonna kill your friend, and then we'll take you and the kid. I never been with a freak before," the stocky one said, a lecherous grin stretching across his face while he said this. Everything about it made Salem's skin crawl.

"Don't ignore me!" Ozpin shouted, moving before he was ready upon hearing what the hammer wielding idiot had said. He slapped out at the pink haired member of the duo, who was still staring with fear filled eyes at Salem.

"Mar!" the brute snapped, forcing his partner out of his stupor. The blade lowered and Ozpin's attack clanged uselessly against the flat of the weapon, ricocheting away when Mar pushed back. The brute's evil grin grew even creepier and he lashed out with the head of his weapon at Salem's legs, aiming to ensure she couldn't escape.

Salem was not the same scared little girl she'd been before, however. She raised her front foot and slammed it down onto the top of the hammer, causing the head to crash into the ground and shatter the stone. From there, she jumped off of the hammer, further causing her opponent to stumble, and delivered a sharp kick to his face.

The brute stumbled backwards, but recovered after a few moments. It seemed that his thick skull was indeed good for something, after all. Salem snarled in annoyance as the man hefted his hammer again and rushed right at her. "Do you idiots ever quit?" she asked, jumping to the side to avoid the incoming attack, landing lightly on her feet and slamming her open palm into his nose. There was a loud _crack_ somewhere in his face, and bright red began streaming from his face. Salem slammed her knee into the man's groin before he could recover, and the blood drained from his face. He collapsed onto the ground and quickly fell unconscious. Salem grinned and turned around to see how her partner was doing.

Ozpin was performing spectacularly, the metal rod in his hand moving almost through the guard of his opponent to deliver fast, repeated strikes to the man's arms and legs. Already large, purple and yellow bruises were blooming on the pink haired man's visible wrists and a few on his face.

Ozpin sidestepped a wild slash from the man and grabbed his enemy's wrist, twisting until the blade slipped from his opponent's hand and a vicious _snap_ was heard. Ozpin grabbed the blade before it hit the ground, then spun in place and smacked the back of his opponent's neck with the metal bar. The man's body spasmed from the sudden and temporary interruption of his nervous system and he fell to his knees. A moment later, the sharp edge of his own weapon was looped around his neck by Ozpin.

"Are you okay?" Ozpin asked, turning his gaze towards the young boy nearby. The kid was just staring with wide eyes at one of the two people who had saved his life – Salem.

"Um, yeah," he responded before looking over at Salem again. "Do I know you, Lady?"

Salem looked the child up and down, examining the boy's rough, red clothing that contrasted his bright blue eyes. He was wearing yellow shoes three sizes too big for him. "You don't," she replied simply.

Ozpin watched this and wondered what the young boy could mean, but decided it wasn't important yet. "Why were you attacking this child?" he asked, bringing the blade in his hand closer to the pink haired man's throat. Blood began to seep from a thin line beneath the blade.

"Cause he's seen it," the criminal replied, voice low. "That's all I know, now let me go!"

"Seen what? Who sent you to find this boy!?" Ozpin asked, bringing the blade in for an even closer shave. Salem raised her eyebrow at the cold rage her friend was exhibiting, but said nothing to dissuade him. For some reason it appeared... familiar to her.

"The big key sword thing. X-blade. They tried asking me and this other kid about it, but I got them to let him go. They're kind of stupid," the kid responded when it became clear the pink haired man wasn't going to answer. Ozpin and Salem exchanged a look before Ozpin slammed the pommel of the sickle into the thug's temple, forcing him to go down into the depths of sleep like his partner.

"You've seen the **χ** -blade?" Salem asked with wide eyes. "How... when?"

"I dunno," the kid responded, no trace of fear in his eyes. A spark of recognition passed through his pupils a moment later and he grinned while leveling his finger at the pale woman. "Wait... you were there!"

"I didn't see you there, though..." Salem's eyes flared up in anger. "Unless you broke in!" Salem shouted, grabbing the kid by his ear. She looked over at Ozpin and sighed. "I have to report this to the academy. They don't let anyone save those Chosen by the **χ** -blade see it."

"I didn't break in!" the kid protested between exclamations of pain. "I just... followed the voice. It told me which doors were open and – someone in there let me in!"

"Wait," Ozpin said, dropping the weapons he had been holding and walking purposefully up to the boy. He crouched and grabbed the young man's shoulders, easing him down until Salem – rolling her eyes and sighing exasperatedly – let go of the kid's ear. "It seems we forgot to introduce ourselves. I'm Ozpin. Grumpy over there is Salem. Don't mind her, a good day was just ruined by these two." He gestured at the unconscious bodies around them. "What's your name?"

The kid smiled. "I like you," he said simply, giving the laughing Ozpin a high five. "Okay. I'm Skye."

"Skye. It is good to meet you," Ozpin said, earning another smile from the kid. "Tell me... what do you mean you followed the voice?"

"I just... felt like I was being called. Why? Am I in trouble?" Skye inquired, his eyes free of any kind of deception.

"I felt the same way," Ozpin muttered, his gaze falling to the ground between him and Skye. He frowned and added on, "Back when I was led there."

"You've broken in there, too!?" Salem snapped at her friend. She threw her hands up and turned from him, kicking at the rubble on the ground as she did. Some of it bounced off of the unconscious brute's head, giving the woman a small level of satisfaction. She had survived her first real fight and even emerged victorious. "This lessens the honor of being chosen if random people can just break in at any moment."

"No, it doesn't. It just means that people are chosen for different reasons than the academy believes," Ozpin responded quietly. He stood up and looked over at Salem, one hand still on the young child's shoulder. "It means there's a reason we're friends." Ozpin let that sink in and looked back at the child. "Where are your parents?"

"Um..."

Ozpin nodded. "I see. Well, Skye, do you mind if we talk with you for a while? I don't think I've ever met anyone else besides Salem that the **χ** -blade told to come and see it. I'll tell you what – I think we were supposed to meet each other, don't you?" The kid nodded, his face showing that he had already assumed that such was obvious.

"You think a _weapon_ helped the two of you break in to see it... just so it could tell you that you were supposed to meet this kid?" Salem asked incredulously. She laughed dryly and shook her head at the insanity of it all. "It's a weapon, it can't do anything like that."

"And yet it chooses who is allowed to see it. Interesting, isn't it?" Ozpin said without looking back at her. He smiled down at Skye kindly and offered his hand. "Would you like some food, Skye?"

"I'm not paying!" Salem said pointedly.

"My treat, then," Ozpin said when Skye took his hand. The young man smiled over at Salem and shook his head. "Besides, he's just a kid, Salem. How much could he eat?"

Skye grinned and his stomach let loose a monstrous gurgle. Ozpin's face nearly became the same color as that of his best friend. "Heh... split it?" he asked the woman, putting on the best begging face he could.

"We'll see, Oz. We'll see," she said, passing them.

"Oz? I like that! I'm gonna call you Oz, too!" Skye shouted excitedly, bouncing up and down as he walked. He soon slipped his hand from Ozpin's hand and sprinted away, past both Salem and Ozpin and making whooshing noises like he was flying.

"You see what you've done? Now it's what everyone's going to call me," Ozpin muttered sadly, letting his chest fall so his head and arms dangled morosely. "Oz, the Great and Powerful doesn't have nearly the same ring to it as Ozpin, the Great and Powerful, now does it?"

"You're an idiot," Salem groaned, cutting off her friend's spiral and slapping the back of his head.

 _ **R W B Y**_

It had been days before Cinder had fully recovered from her use of the Aura Transfer glove, and even more time before she had been able to successfully summon up the willpower necessary to control the energy that she had since taken from the form of the now dead Summer Maiden. Salem had used the months since to slowly train the young Jaune Arc in the use of the Keyblade gifted to him. Thus far, he was not a clear natural with the weapon, but that was easily made up for by the tireless work ethic of the young man. It would seem that he was willing to work without sleep for many days if it meant speeding up the time table on the resurrection of his beloved. "No, use the Darkness in your Heart. Fix it to a point, a scalpel you can use to cut your Keyblade into a new form," she snapped when the young man had failed to alter the nature of the weapon for the twelfth time, though the aura of Darkness around the Keyblade showed he was making very steady progress.

"I'm trying!" Jaune snapped back at his teacher, gripping the ancient weapon in both hands once more. The deep blue eye at the tip of the blade seemed to bleed Darkness while the young man struggled to alter its form.

"Salem, we must speak."

The woman groaned and turned away from her student to look at the speaker. "What do you want, Cinder?" she asked, glaring at the young Dual Maiden with bored eyes. The woman who had once been her favorite servant was quickly becoming a chore to deal with, incessantly asking when and what and how the plans were going to unfold. The woman was necessary, and played a truly large part in Salem's plans, but everything she did seemed truly mundane in comparison to the Keyblade Wielder that she now had in her grasp.

The Maiden's eyes darkened for a moment as she recognized what was in Salem's eyes, but the flicker disappeared after a moment. "When are you going to send us out?This book you say you need, the other two Maidens. They wait for us, but you keep us here so you can train... this boy."

"I could kill you if I wanted to," Jaune snapped, marching up to the Maiden and raising his weapon into her face.

"If you believe that, you are as stupid as that girl I killed at Beacon," Cinder snapped back, huge burning flames erupting at her fingertips. Salem smiled and appreciated the image, watching the two enemies flirt with the edge of murdering one another despite the fact that both knew it would never be allowed.

"Blondie look scarier to you?" Mercury asked his partner quietly. The two of them were standing sufficiently far away from the scene of the possibly brewing battle, knowing that interfering would probably end badly for anyone caught in the crossfire.

"He's been given us murderous looks for months," Emerald agreed. She shivered next to Mercury. "How long until he follows through?"

"Fine," Salem told Cinder. She moved forward and broke up the fight with a skin crawling smile, the spark of lucidity brighter in her eyes than was usual. "You wish to make yourself useful, Cinder, you can. There is a book in Vale: bring it here." The witch turned to grasp Jaune's shoulder and smiled. "After your training is completed, you will be sent to bring the other Maidens here."

The young man's face fell, discomfort flashing across his features. "Is that really necessary?" he asked, hoping Salem would say no.

Before Salem could respond, however, Cinder cut in. "He cannot do what needs to be done! You would send a coward to collect what is mine?!"

"Yours?" Cinder asked angrily, her gaze still locked on the uncomfortable Jaune. Her hand on his shoulder began to dig in to his flesh. After a few moments, her grip loosened and she smiled sweetly. "You wish to hunt down the other two Maidens and claim what is _yours_?" She released Jaune and turned her livid smile on Cinder, causing the woman to flinch and retreat slightly. Salem walked away from Jaune. The young man let an angry smile grow across his face, enjoying the idea that Cinder could be punished. That hope turned to ashes in his mouth when the woman waved her hand and two white gloves appeared in her palm. "If you believe I am holding you back from what is yours, take it." Her hand extended and waited for the young woman to take what it held.

Cinder watched Salem closely, as if expecting this opportunity to disappear at any moment, and did not reach for the gloves. "Take it," Salem commanded, face souring yet again. She slammed her open palm into Cinder's chest and let the gloves fall when she backed away. Cinder just continued to stare at Salem with wide, scared eyes; no move was made to collect the two gloves now on the ground. Black Dust tainted their once pure white surfaces, revealing the Darkness beneath the surface. Salem shook her head in disgust. The gloves melted away into the Black Dust at Cinder's feet, which hadn't moved since she had locked eyes with the enraged Salem. "Then first you will bring individuals of note to me. Your Faunus, I have use for him. The Mute too."

"They will not come with us. He despises us since we have abandoned him, and she only served Torchwick," Cinder finally piped up when the other woman had turned away.

"Then offer them something they want," Cinder snapped over her shoulder. She swept her arm to the side. "Now leave. I have no desire to look at something that is disappointing me." Salem looked over at Jaune. "You will retrieve the book as your final test, when you are ready."

"So that's why Cindy talks to us like that," Mercury said, feigning excitement. This only served in earning a slap in the arm from Emerald, whose anger was only skin deep. She was currently holding in a smile at what her partner had said. "Ouch! Sorry, Teacher's Pet!"

When Emerald rolled her eyes and walked away, Mercury cast a distrustful look at Salem's back. This woman didn't seem to have any interest in keeping them alive, or even in them at all. Her time was consumed with her new pet, Jaune. This of course meant that her previous... what had Xehanort called Cinder... ah, her fanatic was only going to put them more and more in danger to try and become top dog again. Overall, things had been getting worse since Xehanort had been killed.

But what could Mercury do except follow Cinder – and by extension Salem? Sure, he'd liked Xehanort and definitely more than he liked Salem, but she'd taken out Xehanort and Keyboy and Red. He'd rather not be added onto that list himself.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"How long has he been over there?" Neptune asked, fidgeting nervously as he and everyone else watched Sora sit alone on the beach of Patch Harbor. The former Keyblade Wielder was busy doing something with his hands and he focused intently on whatever he was doing.

Every time the waves crashed against the shore, Neptune nearly had a heart attack. Only that he'd be seeing his 'Snow Angel' soon was able to cheer him up, though Sun tried to even ruin that. "To make up for the time I'm losing," the Faunus had tried to explain.

Ruby didn't answer at first, instead staring worriedly at Sora. The normally loud and smiling boy hadn't been the same since he'd woken up, and Ruby was worried he was never going to snap out of it. "He and Professor Ozpin got here before us," she explained. She had gone ahead with Taiyang and Yang to say their goodbyes to their father, and had seen Sora there after eating with Tai. "He's been doing this since before any of us were here."

"Your boyfriend's boring," Yang told her sister, glaring at the young man and shaking her head. "That's what you get meeting people from TV. He was the bee's knees on TV!"

"He's not boring," Ruby protested without looking at her sister. "He _is_ the bees knees!"

"Well, you're the bee's knees, too. You seem to think he's fun, so I _guess_ I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, " Yang huffed, sounding jealous of her younger sister for having seen 'Fun Sora.' "When I get my arm, though, I'm beating him up. For fun! Yeah!"

"Miss Rose," Ozpin said, walking up to the group with Qrow at his side. He smiled. "We have booked transport for you and the others to go to Atlas. As it leaves in a few minutes, I would suggest -" he glanced over his shoulder at Sora and smiled warmly "- that you say your farewells."

Ozpin looked back down at Ruby and motioned with his head for the young woman to go. "Thank you, Headmaster," Ruby muttered before running off towards Sora.

"And so you know, Miss Xiao Long, Sora is quite the interesting young man. Next you meet, perhaps you will find him to be too much fun," Ozpin supplied, his smile growing wider as he watched the young woman approach his new student. "Yes, even for you."

"Sora!" Ruby shouted, waving her hand above her head when he looked over at her. A big smile erupted across his face and he motioned for her to sit beside him, though he continued to work on whatever was in his hands. She slid to her knees beside him and smiled worriedly at him. "Sora, are you okay? You've been ignoring us."

Sora grinned sheepishly. "Whoops! Sorry, I was just... well, I wanted to finish them all before you guys got here."

"Finish all of what?" Ruby asked, grabbing his arm and leaning against his shoulder. He didn't answer right away, instead placing whatever was in his hands in the pile of items on his right side. "We're leaving. Come and say goodbye with me?"

"Really? Then I finished just in time!" Sora shouted excitedly. He turned from Ruby and collected the pile before turning to her. "What do you think?"

Ruby examined the shapes in his hands, a group of nine differently colored stars joined together by string and different insignias. One was of a fiery heart, another of a hammer and lightning bolt, one of an eye made up of gears and feathers. In fact, each one was graced with a different emblem of the group. Two of them were gold and silver, with a rising sun insignia set at the center in white. The one that stood out the most was a red and black one with a silver rose at its heart. They all looked very familiar to the young woman, and she quickly understood why. "You made us Wayfinders? Why?"

"They're promises. Remember?" Sora asked, casting a laughing grin at the young novice Keyblade Wielder. "Come on, do you need a hint?"

Ruby smiled at the thought. "Our Destinies are all connected. I like the idea," Ruby said, reaching down to grab the one that was graced with her personal Scatter insignia.

"Ah!" Sora shouted, pulling the Wayfinder's back. "That one's mine. Sorry."

"Sora you already -" she stopped speaking when Sora suddenly held out the white star he had been carrying around since before they met. She looked between Sora's Wayfinder and his offeratory smile. "I can't take this, Sora. It's all you've got from your home. It's yours!"

"Then I guess you're going to have to promise to bring it back to me," Sora suggested honestly. He grabbed her hand with his and placed the Wayfinder softly into her palm. He laughed anxiously and scratched at the back of his head. "It may not have worked when I made the promise to come back, but I think you're gonna do better than I did. I mean, what are the chances you'll travel a thousand years into the future, too?"

Ruby laughed once and closed her hand. "Fine. This one's mine," she agreed. She stood up and held her hand out for Sora to get up. He collected the rest of the Wayfinders and pocketed them, save for the one with Ruby's symbol that he clipped to his belt. Then he reached out and let her pull him to his feet. He stumbled forward and crashed into her. "Oops! I'm still not used to my new strength..."

"Don't worry about it. It takes a while to get used to," Sora said, grabbing her shoulders to steady himself.

"If he kisses you, I'm killing him!" three voices called from beyond the beach. Sora and Ruby both looked over to see Qrow, Yang, and Taiyang all aiming their weapons threateningly right at the young man. Sora frowned and took a half step backwards – he was nowhere near as durable as he had been with his Keyblade, and he didn't want to see what all three of them could do if they all attacked him at the same time.

"Um... So I've got this," Sora supplied, grabbing something from his belt. It was a trapezoidal hilt with the top slightly curved. The handle itself was blue, and the sides of the basket were a bright purple. Five black dots adorned the central part of the crossguard and two cylinders shot out from it in opposite direction at 45 degree angles from the crossguard. Sora glanced down at it and grimaced, trying to get it to work. "Um... let me just... No, not that. This? No... Oh!" A blade shot out, unfolding from the crossguard. It had deep grooves and jagged edges. "Um... tada!"

"Wow, it looks like -" Unbidden, Ruby's Keyblade appeared in a flash of light in her left hand. "Um... Like that," she said, shaking her hand violently until the weapon disappeared. She sighed and glanced at the ground. She was ashamed at her lack of control over the weapon. "Oops..."

Sora laughed. "Yeah, it does that from time to time," Sora supplied to try and alleviate the young woman's embarrassment. He held up the weapon again. "This one's... it's based off of a Keychain I had once, I got it helping a friend fight his Darkness. It felt like the right one to choose."

"What's its name?" Ruby asked, holding her hand out to ask if she could see it. Sora noded and handed it over, at which point Ruby twirled the weapon and examined the grooves. "The jagged edges will be useful for catching your enemies' weapons and breaking them. The balance is good, but it's a little heavy. I mean compared to -" the Keyblade appeared unbidden in her left hand again and she sighed in defeat.

"It's called Fenrir. It's a little of back then, a little of now," Sora said. He looked down at the other weapon Ruby was holding. "And that one? What do you call it?"

Ruby handed Sora her Keyblade and his smile faltered for a moment. It disappeared before he could even wrap his fingers around it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to -"

"It happens. You're still new at this," Sora responded, his voice barely tinged with any bitterness. He shrugged it off. "What's its name?"

"Crescent Rose. I know, I know. Yang's already told me it's not original at all, but I always liked the name. And it looks like my baby, too," Ruby said, already deflecting his criticism.

"I like it," Sora cut her off. He reached into his pocket and held out the rest of the Wayfinders for Ruby to hold onto – one that was obviously for Qrow, another for Yang, one for Neptune, and another one. "Will you take this one, too? I made two for Jaune, in case either of our groups runs into him. I bet if we give 'em one of these he'll remember who he really is. You think so, too?"

Ruby smiled at Sora and traded his weapon for the Wayfinders. It was a really nice sentiment, to try and hold onto Jaune like that. "You bet," Ruby responded, smiling as she pocketed the Wayfinders for her friends. She glanced at the ground and smiled, dragging the toe of her right boot in circles in the sand. "So, I guess this is see you later?"

"Promise," Sora said, both a response to what she had said and a question for Ruby.

Ruby looked up at him suddenly and grabbed the open chest of his jacket, pulling him close for a quick kiss on the lips. He was taken aback by warm he felt despite the chilly wind, and how – even though her touch was foreign – it felt like everything was exactly where it was supposed to be. She backed away after a couple moments to leave a dazed Sora standing in the sand. "Promise," she said while she smiled mischievously.

" _I'M KILLING HIM!_ "

Ruby hugged the stunned young man tight. "You'd probably better run. I'll tell Qrow, Yang, and Neptune you said bye," she said, voice full of laughter, and then she turned around to defend Sora and his blank eyed grin.

"She's not angry," Sora said, finally understanding that. He snapped out of his stupor when an explosive ball of fire turned the sand at his feet to glass. He looked up to see that his three attackers were not going to stop. He turned on his heel and began to sprint away, terrified by the destructive wall of Ruby's family that was coming towards him. "Ozpin, maybe we should leave?!"

"Why? I'm enjoying myself right here," the man responded, a coffee mug appearing suddenly in his hand. He took a quick drink and laughed. "Lesson one – know when to run away from a fight. Even a Keyblade Master can't win every battle! And it's good cardio!"


	23. Arrivals

**AN: Howdy.**

 **Sorry this took longer than the last few chapters, I was finishing up chapters for my other stories.**

 **Responses! Yay!**

 **To Gravenimage: I've always heard about the dads cleaning shotguns while a daughter is on a date, but Ruby's family takes that to a whole new and much scarier level.**

 **To gamelover41592: Thanks. The backstory is going to keep showing up in every chapter for a while.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Yes, Cinder is going to get angrier and angrier about being pushed away which is going to make her more and more blind to Salem's games, not that she cared anyways. I'm also glad you like Fenrir. It's my favorite Keyblade, style wise, given that it's the only one shaped like a modern key. I hope they make more like that eventually and explain why it's so different from the others.**

 **To grimlock987: Yes, Raven indeed has a Nobody who is going to show up later. As for the D-Links, I've had that planned since the beginning. He'll make connections with his old friends eventually, and with the other characters in the story, too.**

 **To Wlyman2009: I agree. Square really hasn't released any definitive reason for Sora not having his own Keyblade from the start. Since some people just get them and Sora's Heart is stronger than pretty much everyone else's, and on top of that has the ability to use everyone else's strength to bolster his own. Maybe he does have his own, he's just been using other ones the entire time we've seen him. The Kingdom Key D isn't Mickey's 'base Keyblade' given he had to go out and find it, so maybe the Kingdom Key isn't Sora's, kind of like how Aqua could use her Keyblade and the Master Keeper before she tried to save Terra. I hope we find out soon.**

 **To Guest(A): Thanks. I'm glad that my explanations for everything are assuaging your worries about Sora. By the end of the story, he'll be on top again and have the capability to go toe to toe with anybody. I know that One Piece would do a great KH crossover, but I personally haven't had any ideas for one. It would work thematically, that's for sure.**

 **To ShadicZX: Yeah, Two Becomes One would have made sense too. I just really like Fenrir's style and thought it fit best with RWBY. Beyond that, I thought that getting it from a character who is trying to save someone else from their Darkness made it a good one to use.**

 **To sethman610: Yeah, when I was writing Mar I based him heavily off of Marluxia in style. Chain of Memories was the first KH game I'd ever played, so he holds a special place in my Heart. As for Merlin... Time travel rules in KH are not clear at all. Xehanort says you can't travel back or forwards unless you get rid of your body, but Sora and the others go body and soul into Timeless River? And then the other Xehanorts are brought to the future with their bodies? It's all just really confusing. Yen Sid, I believe, said he could read the future from the Stars once, so maybe Merlin's knowledge of the future has something to do with that? As for this story, Merlin will not be making a door, but it does raise interesting questions about what he can and can't do. Even though he's the Sword in the Stone version, he** ** _is_** **still Merlin, and that alone means he should already be almost as strong as Yen Sid when it comes to magic.**

 **Anyways, enjoy! If you aren't already planning on it, please drop a review.**

 _ **Chapter 23: Arrivals**_

Sora looked around at the city of Vale as their ship set down, wondering what all they would find in the city that Ozpin had yet to reveal to them. Fenrir's still unfamiliar weight on his hip made his gait uneven during his walk down the ramp from the ship, exacerbating the weight of his pack over his shoulders. "It's been so very long," Ozpin said, coming up from behind the young man. His eyes had a sad, longing look in them as they locked onto the towers of Beacon Academy miles away. The huge Dragon was still perched precariously upon the shattered towers, locked in an eternal roar of rage and fear. "I do not know if I was truly prepared for this destruction. It... I should have been." The old man turned around and watched Sun, Ren, and Nora approach. The three of them had changed their outfits just like Sora and Ruby had. "Are you ready?"

Sun was dressed in a warmer, white and black checkerboard flannel shirt with the collar popped. The sleeves were rolled up so the top quarter of his gauntlets could fit snugly beneath them. His golden monkey emblem could be seen both on his necklace and on the image that had been sewed into the left side of the chest, laying atop the pocket. He still wore his blue cargo pants with white belt and chain. "Do we have to wear all these clothes?" he asked, pointing at his chest and frowning. "It feels like it's way too much."

"Would you rather freeze?" Nora asked, snorting. "Silly. You've never really gone through winter in Vale before, have you?" She laughed again, the massive hammer on her back jostling. She was dressed in similar clothes to what was usual for her, save for the fact that she had a pink heat shirt beneath her usual armored corset and white stockings that were tucked into her shoes.

"Besides, you're only wearing a warm shirt," Ren pointed out simply. He was wearing a tailcoat of mainly black with green highlights and magenta cuffs midway down his forearms; the inside was a dark red felt good for retaining heat when necessary. The jacket was open over a deep green shirt emblazoned with a small, magenta lotus flower slightly off center to the left. His pants were a shade or two darker, though retained their white-tan coloring and his black shoes remained the same. His hair was out of its usual ponytail and instead flowed freely to the middle of his back. Whenever asked about that change, he claimed it was because 'Nora likes to play with my hair.' "You refused anything else we suggested for you."

Sora had agreed with Sun, initially. He himself was no fan of piling on clothes given his home island's climate. However, it seemed that the loss of the Keyblade had its own annoying side effects as beyond being slower and weaker: where once the young man was capable of surviving in any climate with virtually any choice of clothing, now he was forced to actually think about what he was wearing in order to survive or retain a degree of comfort. He had been forced to buy a heavy jacket with the last of his chunk of the prize money Haven had given him. It was similar to the ones the Organization had used, except for the gray fur lining in the hood and sleeves. The first time Ozpin had seen it, his eyes had been filled with a sort of dark recognition of their own. "Sun, take it from me – something's gotta give," Sora pointed out, grimacing sympathetically at the Faunus. "Better a shirt than frostbite, right?"

"I miss the desert," Sun grumbled awkwardly, letting his hands fall to dangle at his sides. "Heat, the sun. Oh, the beach. Bikinis."

"You could always take Blake when this is all over," Ren said, some of his new, mockingly dry sense of humor shining through. Sun glanced over in annoyance, earning only a smirk from the ninja.

"I do bet she looks good in a bikini," Sun agreed off handedly. He glanced upwards, a dumb smile growing across his face as he imagined it. "Really good."

"Mister Wukong, do we really need to be party to your fantasies of my student?" Ozpin asked, snapping Sun out of his daydream. The Faunus coughed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Good. So, you are all ready, then?" He glanced over at Sora, who looked around nervously with his eyes. "No more daydreams of young women to worry about?"

Sora shook his head even as thoughts of Ruby began to enter it. "Erm, nope! Let's go do... whatever it is we're doing here!" he suggested with a grin. Ozpin smirked knowingly and began to walk away. Sora glanced over his shoulder at the other kids, who were looking at each other nervously. Ozpin still hadn't explained anything about what was going to happen next. Sora took this as a sign and sighed. "I'll ask him."

"Finally!" Sun shouted, his exasperation evident in his voice. He walked up to Sora and slapped him on the back. "I've been waiting all night for you to do something about this. We don't have a plan, or an idea of what we're doing. For instance... when are we, say, going to go looking for..."

"Don't slip into another daydream," Sora remarked, hitting his friend lightly with his shoulder. Sun chuckled sheepishly and Sora laughed. After a few minutes, Sora shrugged. "Fine, just give me a minute. Ruby wanted to know when we all got here." He pulled out his Scroll and typed up the message and sent it. Ruby was still in transit to Atlas, and her Scroll probably was still in Airship mode. He slid the communications machine shut and pocketed it again before frowning and walking off after the others.

He nodded at Sun when he passed and sped past them until he was side by side with Ozpin. "So everyone is wondering what we're doing here? You said we're here for that book and Ruby's friend, if she's still here," he said. Ozpin did not look like he was paying attention and continued to walk down the street. "I mean, what's the plan? Where are we going first?"

"Our first destination is the large complex in which Miss Xiao Long's apartment lies. I have a... nest egg set up with which I have bought enough of the rooms for us to all stay in comfort during our time here," Ozpin responded after a few steps, his gaze never drifting down. "I have sent a message for someone to meet us in a few days out by the Emerald Forest. She will likely some information on Miss Belladonna's whereabouts as well as a way for us to retrieve the Journal from..." His head nodded up towards the school again.

"Okay. Good. That's more information than you gave us earlier, at least," Sora muttered quietly. He frowned before he continued to speak. "But you're going to have to start telling us everything soon. You said I need to understand you, but I don't think I can do that if you don't tell me anything."

Ozpin sighed in defeat, knowing that the young man was correct. "Mister Nomura – Sora, there are very few people whom I trust. It is a result of many past mistakes, but being slow to trust has saved me from many similar betrayals," Ozpin explained, voice calm despite the pain that was evident in his words. "If I appear not to trust you, I am sorry. Truly. You are very much like him, my first student. He was good man. Trustworthy, kind, and dedicated to preserving life. I am sure that you are as well... But more than twelve centuries of habit is something quite difficult to break even for those deserving of it." He looked over his shoulder at the other three young warriors, who were joking and laughing together. "How is young Mister Arc's betrayal affecting you?"

Sora followed the man's eyes and the two stopped walking for a moment. "It's no reason to stop trusting anybody," Sora remarked, placing his hands on his hips and letting a soft smile tug at his lips.

"More and more you remind me of him," Ozpin said, letting out a soft laugh. He smiled down at Sora before walking over to the street. He raised his fee hand above his head and took a deep breath. "Taxi!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _Seventeen years before the First Great Keyblade War_

"Can I?"

"No."

"Can I?"

"No."

"Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? CAN I!?"

"No!" Ozpin finally snapped at Skye. He looked over at the blue eyes boy and growled. "You're staying here. Whatever it is that those City Guards saw, it killed people. People who have been fighting a lot longer than you have; you're thirteen, not a warrior."

"You're, what, twenty five? That's not that big a difference!" Skye protested, following Ozpin as he strapped on weapons and Potions for his hunt. "If I can help you guys stay alive, I'm going."

"I'm twice your age, Skye," the older warrior said, sliding a hand and a half sword into place on his belt over his long black coat. It was a black leather that traced all the way to the ground, with a hood lowered onto his back and two silver stars dangling outside of the silver zipper. It was something that Salem had made him, claiming that the material she'd used had an innate resistance to whatever other matter was in the **χ** -blade. Matter whose energy signature was starting to show up whenever people were disappearing in the city. "I think I know what's best."

"You act like you're my dad sometimes," the boy muttered dryly, crossing his arms over his chest. The young man was dressed in clothes most suitable for training in battle; Ozpin had decided to take young Skye under his wing after seeing the fire within his eyes and had even offered the kid a place to stay. For the past five years, Skye had been helping Ozpin out with his burgeoning defense business. Skye had said it should be called a Huntsman business, though Oz had shot that idea down immediately.

"Someone needs to tell you that you're not thinking. It's not exactly your strong suit, after all," Ozpin remarked dryly, picking up a metal walking stick that could disconnect into two, sword length rods of metal. Ozpin ran a hand through his hair upon seeing Skye's puppy dog eyes. "No. Once you can react fast enough to stop this -" Ozpin slapped the back of Skye's head before he could respond. "Then we could have a conversation."

"Oh, fine," Skye grumbled. He rubbed the spot where the blow had landed and shot Ozpin an annoyed glare. The older warrior was at the door, about to open it and leave. "I didn't want to hang out with your girlfriend anyways."

Ozpin laughed dryly and turned away from the door. "She's not my girlfriend," Ozpin said mirthfully, "and you two need to learn how to like each other. It's getting awkward."

"She's the one who doesn't like me. I keep trying to be nice to her and I'm still just the kid who broke in to see the **χ** -blade! You did it, too, and she doesn't even care!" Skye shouted defensively. He shrugged after a moment and laced his fingers behind his head. "Whatever. Go on your date, I'll be fine." He let himself fall into a chair and stare sadly at his mentor. "Alone." He put his head on his hands. "By myself."

Ozpin frowned sympathetically, then smiled widely. "Good!" then he turned around and walked through the door. He took a deep breath of the night time air and smiled contentedly. He pulled up his hood, completely obscuring his face in its shadow, then began to walk towards the location at which he was set to meet Salem. The city was mostly quiet at that time of night, with only the noises of music accompanying him on his walk. Most of the area around his office was safe of the crime wave, at least in part due to him being called on by the citizens of the area to help. This was his first job given to him by the City leadership itself, and that meant he would probably be called all over now. He'd have to lean more heavily on Skye to keep up the business in their home neighborhood.

After about a half hour of walking, Ozpin found himself standing outside of the entrance to the sewers where the murders had been taking place. He tapped his walking stick against the ground, anxious for his friend to get there. "Just like her to be late," he murmured, glancing up at the huge clock at the center of town. He unscrewed the rods from one another and twirled them a few times before reconnecting them.

"I know, I know! I'm sorry!" the woman shouted as she barreled down the street. She was wearing the same coat as Ozpin and carrying a dozen small instruments and writing notebooks peeking out precariously from the pack on her back and others on her hip. She slid to a stop next to Ozpin, leaning over and panting. "Sorry, I just got held up at the Academy. One of the other scholars keeps asking me on a date; just wants me to sneak him into the **χ** -blade chamber."

"Maybe he should just break in," Ozpin supplied while he pulled down his hood. At that she glowered at Ozpin, who returned it with a smirk. "I'll stop making the joke when you stop reacting, Salem."

"Fine. I'll get you back, though, Oz," Salem warned.

The man, no longer annoyed by the nickname after so long, just shrugged and drew the sword. He flipped it to a backhand and passed it over to Salem. "Stay close. We don't need another repeat of that time in the Southern District," he commanded while Salem grabbed the weapon and placed the flat on her shoulder.

"It's not like you _lost_ the fingers," Salem retorted as if it were obvious. She shrugged at him and made a funny face at her partner, sticking her tongue out. "Just be more careful if you want to stay safe, you baby."

"You be careful so I can stay safe!" Ozpin growled, unscrewing the staff into twin rods again before jumping into the water and walking over to the large sewer grate at the end. The stench of decay wafted slowly towards him, almost visible in and above the water. Salem jumped after him and grabbed her nose. "Baby."

"Shut up," Salem hissed, pushing past him and into the sewer with her sword out in front of her. She pulled a device from her belt and activated it, bringing a huge burst of light into being in her hand. The water splashed with her every step, sending sewage flying out in her wake.

"You're walking heavy on purpose!" Oz shouted down the tunnel, giving her space so he wouldn't accidentally get something splashed into his face. After only a couple seconds, he walked in, too, ready for a fight.

"Obviously," the echo came from where the light glimmered a dozen feet away. She turned a corner a few seconds later and Ozpin was forced to find it without Light. He stumbled around before finding it and turning to see the Light again, hovering in Salem's left hand. She was looking back expectantly at her friend.

"Thanks for stopping," Ozpin said as he trudged through the filth and towards Salem. "There's not a lot of Light in here."

"Darkness," Salem said, peering around in place. "There's a lot of Darkness here."

Ozpin glanced over at her. "Um... what?"

"Darkness. It's the opposite of Light," Salem said without really paying any attention. She pushed forward again, examining the empty blackness.

"Says who?" Ozpin said as he fell into step with her, weapons at the ready for whatever it is they were hunting for. He thought he saw some glowing yellow eyes in the distance, but they disappeared a moment later.

"I'm the one who discovered it, I get to make the name," Salem told him, gesturing into the 'Darkness' surrounding them. She stopped and cocked her head to the side, peering deep into their surroundings. "I'm turning off the Light."

Ozpin made a sudden, surprised move. He grabbed her shoulders. "Do you want whatever this is to sneak up on us?" he asked.

"I'm not a moron Oz. Stay close so you don't lose your fingers," Salem retorted dryly. She shook the Orb, and the Light went out to leave them in total Darkness. Nothing happened, no creature came near and no evil presence could be felt. "I thought that this would work for sure."

"Um, Salem," Ozpin muttered fearfully. He lightly pushed her with his shoulder.

"Not now, Oz," she growled, looking around still.

"Salem!" Ozpin snapped again, yanking her towards him.

"What!? – Oh." Floating in front of Ozpin was a pair of yellow, glowing eyes filled with hunger and evil. Salem gulped down her fear and pulled out an instrument to start scanning whatever it was that floated in front of them. The creature began to chitter angrily and come closer, bright eyes burning like dangerous embers. "Yeah, Oz, this the thing. The attacking monster. The killing thing." The scanner in her hand began to whine, and two more pairs of eyes began to glow beside the first pair. "Um... things?" The whining grew in intensity, then died suddenly when the machine shorted out. "Oh, that's not good." A dozen more pairs of eyes began to sprout around the two humans, and the chittering melted together into a terrible chorus, assaulting their ears.

"Turn it back on!" Ozpin hissed from behind his teeth. He looked over at her, brow furrowed. "NOW!"

There was a sudden splash at their feet, and the Light suddenly shined again. Ozpin and Salem both took a terrified step back upon seeing the creatures with which they had just been confronted. They were huge, black skinned creatures that looked eerily like a devil. Black angel wings tipped with gold sprouted from its elbows and a tail with a large blade floated down from its back. Its toes and fingers were tipped with silver claws. Its purple horns came together above its skull like visage to create an image of an empty Heart – one also present on the being's chest. Each one held a large, impossibly sharp sword in its right hand. Ozpin looked around, counting them – perhaps fifteen in all. "Turn it back off?" Salem suggested fearfully.

That was when hell broke loose.

The nearest creature shrieked and charged at Salem, brandishing its sword above its head. She moved to dodge the attack, but the creature seemed to account for it and follow her. Ozpin dashed between them at the last minute, catching the blade on his weapons and struggling against the heavy weight of the creature. "Salem, get out of here! We can't handle this on our own!" he shouted, swinging the weapon away from him and delivering a blow to the creature's side. The metal merely passed through the monster's hide as if it was never there. "Never mind. Get something to blow these monsters up!"

Salem yelped and jumped past the next incoming sword strike before trying to cut through the monster. It merely hissed and let the blade pass uselessly through its arm before lashing out with its tail to attack again. Salem batted the attack away with her sword, and turned just in time to dodge another sword attack from yet another monster. "If I could, I would!" Salem shouted over at her friend, who was busy spinning as fast as he could between the repeated strikes of three monsters, as if dancing just beyond their reach.

"We're fighting a losing battle," he growled, jumping on top of the next attack and kicking the sword into its owner's head. This time, lasting damage was dealt when the blade buried itself deep into the monster's face and it shrieked before dissolving into Darkness. "Use their own swords on them!"

He immediately had to duck beneath an attack and block another one. He missed the third, this one slamming into his side. He was sent flying, his weapons falling from his hands, and rolled through the sewage to his feet. He immediately tried to wipe his face off and spit out whatever it was he had almost swallowed."God, that's disgusting!" His eyes widened a moment later when he realized he hadn't been cut in half. "The coats! Salem, the coats are like armor!"

"I told you they'd work!" she shouted, though she sounded just as surprised as her ally. She raised her sword and slapped away the next attack. "Though that doesn't change the fact you were just thrown fifteen feet by one hit. Hard to survive something like that."

"Point," Oz ceded as he sidestepped another creature's attack and shoved the sword into a different creature. The one hit by the attack hissed and died while the other one's tail whipped out at Oz. He dodged the attack and grabbed the tail. With a jump, he wrapped the creature's tail around its hand and began to yank the monster's sword towards its skull. It lowered its blade and sliced through its own tail to escape, spinning around to try and bury its blade in the stumbling Ozpin. He was able to jump away from the assault at the last minute. "We need to run."

"Oz, I think they're swarming me!" Salem shouted, voice terrified. Oz turned to see the woman beset by the remaining creatures. "I wanted to be popular once, but this is overdoing it!"

"Salem!" Ozpin screamed, sprinting towards her. He jumped and tried to dropkick one of the monsters away, only for it to backhand him away. He grunted in pain and landed face down in the muck. When his lungs started to burn, he woke up and forced himself to his feet. He saw Salem was in a much worse position, however, with the monsters grabbing her and lifting her above their heads.

"Oz, why am I always the Damsel in Distress!?" the woman screamed while the claws of the monsters tried to rip her coat off and shred her to pieces. When the zipper began to shred, she shrieked angrily. "Never mind, just get me the hell out of this!"

"Get away from her!" Ozpin shouted again, running towards the monsters, only to earn yet another slap from the creatures. He tumbled across the sewer and stood up. He felt anger rising in his chest, but more importantly a desire to protect his friend. He wouldn't let her die at the hands of these... monsters. On a deep impulse, as if by instinct, the man brought his hands out in front of him and roared as loudly as possible: " _Get away from her_!" Light began to glow in his palms for a moment, growing with the cresecendo of anger in his chest, before firing off to create a wide beam of energy that shot toward the creatures. They shrieked in pain and hatred as the light slammed into their bodies. Smoke rose from them, their forms dissolving suddenly and their swords disappearing from their hands. There was a surprised yelp and a splash when Salem hit the water, but Oz didn't stop there. The Light kept coming, the energy burning the creatures away so much that even their ashen remains became nothingness.

When the monsters finally disappeared completely, Ozpin let his hands fall to his side. "Huh," he grunted, intrigued by what he had just done. "Weird." Then the world began to fade to a tunnel and he fell face first into the sewage.

He was woken up a few moments later by a few slaps to his face by an incredibly pale hand. "Ow," he grunted, pressing his palm against his eye in an attempt to placate the pounding headache that was deafening his perceptions. He opened the other, just barely, and saw Salem sitting over him with her coat open to reveal her sewage encrusted clothes. He felt another slap across his face, which immediately woke him up. "Hey, stop it!"

"Just making sure you're not dead. Calm down," Salem said, standing up and offering her hand to her friend. He groaned and took it and she pulled him to his feet. Oz looked around and saw they were out of the sewer and were no longer alone. Next to them on the cobblestone was a young man with blue eyes, wearing a black shirt and pants.

"Skye. I said not to come," Ozpin growled.

"And miss you shoot lasers from your hands?" The kid scoffed and shook his head, saying, "No way."

"I do seem to remember something like that," Ozpin said, deciding to castigate his student later. "Whatever that was."

"Light, Oz. You... you summoned Light," Salem cut in, an excited look on her face. She shook her friend by the shoulders. "We have to try to get you to do it again! Maybe you could teach us how to do it!"

"Light? Yeah, that's what it looked like," the man said. He grimaced and tried to take a step forward, only for the world to start tipping sideways again. He was stopped from falling by two pairs of hands grabbing hold of his coat.

"Let's just get you home Oz. We can talk about this later," Skye told his friend, motioning for Salem to help him distribute the man's weight. "Maybe we can even get you guys a shower – you reek."

"Those things were so powerful," Ozpin noted, pained. He glanced over at Salem under his right arm. "What do you think they were?"

"Darkness," Salem responded hungrily.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby's Scroll beeped as she deactivated its Airship mode and walked down the ramp. She checked the message and smiled softly. She tapped in her own message about their safety and pocketed the device. "They all made it to Vale safely," she said, turning around and waving at her allies.

Ruby shivered slightly and looked up. The sky was a dull gray with snow drifting down to coat the ground. Atlas had once been known as Mantle, in a different time, named for the volcanic heat that had made the north pole of the world habitable since time immemorial. Still, the region was not known for weather that was very conducive to crop growth, but Mantle had been at the forefront of Dust mining and technology for almost its entire history. Ruby glanced back down and waited for her annoyingly slow allies to catch up.

Neptune, however, sprinted past her before she could say anything else and he hugged the ground. He soon began to sob; between the shakes that rattled his entire body, he said, "Oh, thank God we're not above water anymore! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"You've got weird friends, Ruby," Qrow said as he approached. He crossed his arms and shook his head while staring disapprovingly down at the young man. Qrow sighed as the sobbing of joy redoubled and he looked over at Ruby. "And of course they did. It was like a one night flight."

"Oh, Sun is going to be so happy," Yang said as she pulled out her Scroll and video taped Neptune's newest episode on the ground. "Between this and all his fits on the Dragonfly, Sun's gonna have a field day!"

"Yang," Ruby said disapprovingly, though she didn't stop her sister from sending the video. She leaned over and grinned. "Remix it to music!"

"Oh, _yes_ ," Yang agreed, pocketing her Scroll when Qrow glanced over. She grinned at her uncle and held her thumb up. "Let's go, Uncle Qrow! Heh... Rhyming."

Qrow shook his head in disbelief. "You are far too much of your father's daughter," he muttered. He glanced up as Neptune came out of his inverse panic attack and walked over. "So, you guys want to hear the plan or are we just going to keep messing around? I mean, you guys do know I'm all for messing around."

"Well, we can't always be lazy like you old people, Uncle Qrow," Ruby supplied innocently. Ignoring the veteran Huntsman's growl of annoyance, she turned to her sister. "Step one! You are getting your arm!"

"Do you need a _hand_ with anything before that, though?" Yang inquired, eliciting a round of groans from those with her. "Oh, I'm going to have a field day with all this new material!"

"Never mind. Step one is banning Yang from making jokes," Ruby muttered, almost physically in pain from how bad that joke was. She placed her hand on her sister's shoulder and sighed sympathetically. "Ever again." She looked over at Qrow and raised two fingers. "Step two is getting her new arm so we can finally begin the process of getting those terrible jokes out of her system! Uncle Qrow, where are we going if we want to do that?"

"Ugh..." the Huntsman groaned, grabbing his hair and hissing. "Just give me a minute to come to terms with it."

"What about Weiss?" Neptune asked, wondering when he could find her.

"We'll deal with that after Qrow stops being a baby and tells us where we're going," Ruby responded, crossing her arms and glaring at her uncle. "Qrow..."

"You know I _hate_ Jimmy," Qrow growled, smoothing down the hair he had just messed up. He took a breath. "And then there's Ice Queen."

"Weiss'll be there!?" Neptune asked excitedly.

"No. Uncle Qrow's frenemy, I want to say. Oh, his Weiss!" Ruby explained, causing her uncle to cringe and glare at her. "Weiss' older sister is General Ironwood's... assistant?"

"Nah, she's his Gofer," Yang corrected with a grin.

"Like the people who play the game with the clubs?"

"That's golfer," Neptune told Ruby.

"Like the animal?" Ruby asked, voice low.

"That's... gofer. Huh," Yang muttered, placing her hand on top of her head. "Weird..."

"Winter's his protege," Qrow cut in, putting up his hand to stop any of the younger warriors from saying anything else stupid. "And unlike you idiots, I know that Schnees make worse friends than they make enemies. And they make _bad_ enemies."

"Well..." Ruby considered, her mind flashing to every individual time that her partner had referred to her as a dunce, moron, idiot, fool, or – Ruby's personal favorite – a 'driveling, empty headed, child.' "Nah, Weiss is super fun!"

"If she's remembering the same things I am, Ruby's weirder than I thought," Yang told her uncle, both of them a little confused by Ruby's eccentricities. "And that would say a lot."

"I can hear you, you know?" Ruby asked dryly, crossing her arms over her chest. Yang just shrugged nonchalantly. With a sigh, Ruby turned to her uncle and continued to speak. "Where are we going and how are we getting there?"

"Usually, getting in to talk with General Jimmy would be difficult. He'll pop in unannounced, but God forbid you show up without turning in signed forms in triplicate that you had an appointment with him. Even for Oz," Qrow explained, motioning for the young warriors to follow him out and into the city. The snow began to pick up, flashing in the bright lights of the city. Even Vale was small compared to Atlas, with the towers stretching far above the clouds. The only thing that showed they were definitely up there was a huge, glowing snowflake that would occasionally appear when the clouds parted slightly. Qrow caught sight of the glowing symbol and grimaced. "But I've got an in."

He pulled out his Scroll and turned around towards his crew. "No jokes about cold or ice when you meet her. That's my shtick," he demanded of Yang as he lifted the device to his ear and waited for the person he was calling to pick up. A moment later, he fidgeted nervously and laughed. "Hi, Ice Queen... Yeah, it's good to talk to you too? Yep. So, hey, could I ask you a favor?" He paused and waited for a response. "Yes, it is actually important. No, it's not alcohol. I need to meet with Ji – General Ironwood. Now. Yeah, I'm at the Airport actually, just landed a private flight. Great – see you soon."

"Hey, I think your uncle likes her!" Neptune said mockingly. Qrow gave the young man an icy glare that a Schnee could be jealous of. "Weiss said she's kind of scary."

"Aw... Neptune could be your brother in law, Uncle Qrow!" Yang joked. The Schnee like glare turned on Yang this time, but the fiery girl just brushed it off with a smile.

"I think you've been spending too much time around Weiss' sister," Ruby said next. The glare became exasperated and Qrow slammed his palms into his eyes. "I think Mom would like that." Qrow opened his fingers over one eye and looked down at the young woman. She was smiling supportively, silver eyes wide and kind. It almost felt like Summer herself was saying it to him. Despite himself, Qrow smiled. "So where are we getting picked up?"

He shook his head and let his hands fall to his side. No point in postponing the pain. "Come on," he said, waving his arm for the three kids to follow him into the airport. "It's apparently bad manners to keep a Schnee waiting."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora held Fenrir out in front of him in a defensive stance, waiting to use it until the rampaging Alpha Beowolf he was fighting got close enough for it to matter. With the Keyblade, that attack could have been launched from virtually anywhere, but as he was now? His magic was weaker, he couldn't use Light like he used to, and he was only had a fraction of the speed and strength upon which he relied so heavily.

Sora gulped down his fear when his eyes crossed those of the stoic Ozpin, who stood above with a coffee in his left hand. This fight was going to be incredibly dangerous, that was true. Ozpin had made it clear that he would do little to help the young man in his fight with the powerful Grimm; this was their first attempt at forcing Sora's Heart to instinctively reach towards the Master Keeper. If the pit of fear that was worming its way down Sora's spine was any indication, it wasn't going well so far.

Sora looked back up at the Grimm, which was now basically on top of him. It roared and swept at Sora's right side with one of its huge claws, and Sora brought his blade around in an instinctive block. Again, had he still been the owner of the Kingdom Key the attack would have merely ricocheted off and given him a huge opening to deal massive damage to the creature. Instead, the palm of the monster hit and he was sent into the side of a tree. He jumped to his feet as quickly as he could and made a mental note to dodge instead of blocking next time. The Grimm was already rushing him, and Sora put that note to work right then and there. He rolled beneath the next swipe of the claw and swiped over his head at its wrist while coming to his feet. The attack left a gash along the monster's flesh, though it only seemed to annoy the bony monster. Its other claw slammed into his back a moment later and he tumbled across the ground.

"Master your fear, Mister Nomura!" Ozpin shouted from atop the small cliff upon which he was perched. His eyes were looking down at Sora through the centers of his green glasses. "A Keyblade Master does not react to the actions of a monster, he acts! Enforce your will on this battle. Dictate what occurs."

"Easy for you to say," Sora grumbled, ducking beneath the next blow and launching a comparatively weak Fira at the Grimm. It shrugged off the flames and brought both hands above its head for a powerful slam. Sora yelped and performed a dodge roll to escape its radius, thankfully avoiding any damage. He flicked a small trigger at the base of the basket and whipped his hand forward. He let go of Fenrir a moment later and it flew away from him on a thin, metallic string, the other end attached to his wrist. Just as it was about to reach the Grimm, he flicked his wrist back and the tip of the blade slashed through its shoulder and returned to Sora. The monster roared in pain and Sora grinned pridefully. He whipped it forward again, this time aiming for the monster's open maw.

The Beowolf almost looked like it was grinning at Sora when it raised its claw and _grabbed_ the incoming blade. It tugged upward on the weapon and Sora, who instinctively refused to let go of the weapon, followed it. The Grimm slammed its fist into the ground and Sora followed, a crater forming where his body had slammed into the ground. "Ow..." he groaned, but that was not the end. The blade flew upward again then down once more. The crater deepened and Sora could hear a laughing growl echo above him. Moments later, a hunk of metal clattered uselessly next to his head. Sora yanked his arm towards his body, the wiring connecting the weapon to his wrist tensing up and retracting to drag it back to its owner.

The Grimm shrieked angrily and brought its left hand down at him, ready to flatten him against the ground. His fingers wrapped around the handle of Fenrir at the last moment and he spun across the ground with the weapon straight out. The monster's movement combined with that of the weapon, and the Grimm's claw completely dissolved before it even hit Sora. The monster shrieked in pain and kicked Sora away when he got up to his knees. He fell to his back, and the Grimm was on top of him before he could do anything to respond. He stared defiantly up at the monster's maw, long teeth approaching his face. "Oz!" Sora shouted, afraid for his life.

The Grimm flew off of him, a force slamming into it that was so strong its chest caved in and its body immediately began to disintegrate. "Headmaster, if I was not so excited at your return right now, I would do to you what I just did to that Grimm," an angry, strict voice snapped. Sora rolled over and pushed himself to his knees to see a woman in a purple cape walking towards him, her blonde bun and curls highlighting her pretty albeit severe face. Her riding crop somehow brought the entire look together.

"Ah, Ms. Goodwitch! I'm so happy to see your smile again," Ozpin responded, taking a single light step forward to land noiselessly at the bottom of the cliff, none of the coffee in the open topped mug so much as splashing out of its container.. Sora watched that with a bitter sigh – he had been able to do that barely a month earlier. "It's slightly less frown like than it was before the Vytal festival!"

"Hilarious, Headmaster," the strict faced professor growled, coming to a stop a few feet from Ozpin. He placed her riding crop into the holster on her hip before crossing her arms and shooting an incredibly angry glare at the man. It turned softer – barely – when it turned towards Sora. "Are you alright, Sora?"

The former Keyblade Wielder gulped nervously and stood up slowly. He deactivated Fenrir and placed it onto his hip before nodding. "I'm fine," he responded before glancing between Ozpin and Goodwitch.

"No, you're not. A warrior cannot second guess every decision he makes in battle," the woman said bluntly before looking back at Ozpin. "With all due respect, I do not believe he is ready for battles such as this. Given what you told me of his recent losses, I do not know if he is ready for battles of any kind. He _is_ a child."

"Hm. Not long ago I had to encourage you to allow our students time to be children," Ozpin noted with a small smile. His smile turned sad and he looked over at Sora. "But perhaps you are right. Given what this young man has faced and what he must face in the future, I may have tried to push him too far too quickly. You have my apologies, Mister Nomura."

Sora glanced between the two of them blankly. "I don't think -"

Ozpin cut him off, a sympathetic look on his face. "You're afraid. You have never gone through what you are right now. You lost your Keyblade once before, but you did not know how it had come into being. You lost your friends before, but they were always just within reach. You faced danger, but you were not facing then what you face now. As I keep saying, I often confuse you for him."

"For whom, Ozpin?" Goodwitch inquired, her usual tone replaced with one of interest.

"There is much I must tell you, Glynda," the ancient warrior said, looking over at her. "But first – do you know a way for us to enter the school's grounds?"

"Do you intend to go with him?" the woman asked Sora, her icy glare causing him to freeze for a moment and behave like a deer in headlights. "Answer me, Sora!"

"Of course," he finally said. He was confused why she'd ask, really. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't I?"

Glynda ignored Sora's question and looked over at Ozpin again. Her eyes hardened even further, and Sora could see that it almost physically pained her to refuse Ozpin. "Then I won't tell you. Not until that young man is ready."

"I am ready," Sora protested, throwing his hands up in protest. "That book has my best friends' last words in it. I'm going to go and get it!"

"Then you will do it without my help," Goodwitch said, sweeping her hand in front of her. Her telekinesis pushed him across the ground and away from her. "I will not be a reason for you to go out and die instead of facing whatever is really troubling you. I am an educator and Huntress, so my duty is to protecting your life before it is to doing as anyone, even Ozpin, asks."

Ozpin smiled, but remained silent. As he took a slow drink of his coffee, he decided that this may be the best way to start Sora down his path once again. He had been afraid ever since his defeat at the hands of Salem. What better way existed to recover one's courage than being forced to stand up to Glynda Goodwitch, the most commanding presence on all of Remnant?

"Then I'll attack it head on, just like I've done every time I've needed to before!" Sora shouted back, matching glares with the woman. He took a step forward and Glynda, who usually appeared seven feet tall with laser eyes and fire breath in the eyes of anyone except Ozpin, suddenly looked very small to Sora. "So you can either help me, or I can fight every monster there to find the book."

Glynda remained silent, her frigid glare studying Sora intently, calculatingly. She could read it as plainly as if it was written on his forehead: Sora really would do something that stupid and reckless. "Three days. Then, regardless of whether you are ready or not, Sora, I will help the two of you into the Quarantine Zone."

"And do you have any news on Miss Belladonna's whereabouts?" Ozpin asked after momentary silence. He took a sip from his coffee and cocked his head to the side as he waited for an answer.

"None so far, I'm afraid." Glynda clasped her hands in front of her at her waist and shook her head. She took a deep breath before letting out a sigh and glancing at her former boss with apologetic eyes. "As far as I am aware, Blake Belladonna is... gone."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby sat anxiously between her sister on her right and Neptune on her left, glancing between her incredibly uncomfortable uncle on one side of the limo's white and red interior and the equally uncomfortable Winter Schnee on the other side. Every so often, the two adult Huntsmen would glance at each other before looking away nervously. Every second of it seemed to stretch on for hours, quickly eroding all of her willpower. Finally, Ruby could take no more. "Could you please just call her Ice Queen," she began before turning to Weiss' older sister, "and can you call him a miserable Drunk? I think that would be better than..." Ruby waved her hands violently at the almost physical tension in front of her.

"Yes, I feel much the same, Ruby," Winter noted, uncrossing and then recrossing her legs. She frowned and, with what almost looked like a physical exertion on her part, forced a smile and looked over at Qrow. From behind the gritted teeth in her fake smile, Winter's words came out with a falsely comfortable tone. "Qrow, it is _good_ to see you again. How are you?"

"My sister died for real this time, I learned my... best friend's body was stolen by Ozpin's evil ex girlfriend, and I am now stuck in a small metal box for the seventy- _third_ straight hour," Qrow responded as dryly as possible. He looked up at Winter with half lidded eyes and cracked a sarcastic smile. "So, I guess you could say everything is just about normal. Wait! I don't drink anymore. I know that was pretty much my defining character trait for you, so sorry." He looked around anxiously and grabbed his knees. "And how are you, Winter?" It sounded like he wanted her to know that he did not want her sympathies.

"Please say everything's cool, please say everything's cool, please say everything's cool," Yang muttered under her breath.

"I am fine," Winter replied, voice even this time. The lack of bad jokes elicited a _very_ audible cry of disappointment from Yang. Winter and Qrow looked over at her, neither of them amused, then back at one another. "There is no problem in my life with which you should trouble yourself." Her face fell slightly when she began to ignore Qrow's wishes. "I am sorry about your sister and your friend, however. Whatever you may believe, I am not heartless."

Qrow let out his pent up breath in a dry laugh. "Sorry, you just said something kind of funny. Inside joke," he explained with a shrug. "Maybe I'll explain it later. Besides, I never thought you were, Ice Queen."

Winter bit the inside of her cheek to hide her blush. "Well, you have always appeared just as rude as are," she responded immediately, turning away from Qrow.

"Oh God, we were joking before. You _do_ like her," Neptune whispered, though it sounded like a surprised shout in the silence of the limo.

"You guys were joking?" Ruby asked. She grunted in surprise. "I knew they liked each other ever since they tried to kill each other in the Vale Courtyard."

Both Qrow and Winter immediately cringed and pointed at one another. "Him? Nev -"

"Not in her wildest dr -"

"Miss Schnee, we have arrived at Military Headquarters and Medical Center," the limo driver said, rolling down the airtight divide between him and his passengers. He raised one bored eyebrow as he examined Qrow and Winter pointing at each other, then sighed and wordlessly rolled the divide back into place. He muttered something about "Rich girls and ruffians."

Ruby was the first one to break the silence that had spread out over their heads. "Let's go!" she shouted cheerfully. She shoved the door open and shot out of the car in a torpedo of flowers, vaulting through the door of the building before Yang even made it out of the car itself. The young woman n red was then confronted by two rather burly men in white and black, official looking military suits. Unbidden, Crescent Rose suddenly appeared in her hand in its customary flash of red Light. "I swear that was an accident." The men both growled and pulled out their guns, leveling them at the young woman's head.

The automatic doors hissed open before anyone could do anything stupid and the rest of Ruby's party walked through the doors, headed by the top Atlesian specialist. "Stand down. She is with me," Winter commanded, shoving the two men apart like they were doors in her way when she got close enough, followed soon by Qrow, Neptune, and Yang. She began to lead them down the only path they could go down – a single hallway with an ending about thirty feet down.

Ruby glanced at both of the soldiers nervously before the Keyblade suddenly disappeared. "I... am with her," she repeated, slowly shuffling past their growling visages and casting a nervous smile at them when she passed them. Ruby gave a quick, and probably incredibly sloppy, military salute before rocketing off after the rest of her group.

"Please do not wander too far away again. The military does not look kindly on spies with weapons wandering our halls," Winter said without looking over her shoulder. She clasped her hands in the small of her back and spoke authoritatively. "And I am sure they could even handle a single young woman with a Keyblade."

"You would be surprised," Qrow muttered, winking back at Ruby. She grinned and flashed her uncle a thumbs up. "You could maybe beat her. Jimmy, of course. But I'd still put my money on her over every other soulless, worthless Speciali – sorry." Qrow's gaze fell and he grimaced at his thoughtlessness.

Winter ignored him and continued leading them to the end of the hallway, only stopping when she reached the back wall. "Luckily, General Ironwood should be in the Medical Center's Prosthesis Wing right now, tuning his own cybernetics," the specialist said, pressing a button on the wall and taking a step back. After a short while, the wall lit up and slid apart to reveal a lift of white tile and reflective chrome surfaces. She walked in and turned around to face the exit, waiting for the rest of the group to follow. "Well?" Ruby and the others glanced at one another before filing in and standing nervously beside the stoic Specialist. The doors slid shut in front of them, and they were on their way to meet the commander of the most powerful military in the world.

The lift hummed quietly and began to fly upwards, though the group within remained completely silent. Winter swayed from side to side, unnaturally anxious given her usual icy demeanor. She became rigidly worried when the doors opened to reveal a man in regal military dress. His right hand had a white glove on it, covering his cybernetic fist. There was a gray vest beneath his long military coat, with a red tie beneath that. His hair was deep black was styled very formally on his head, a stray pair of hairs forming a cowlick on the right side of his forehead that highlighted a cybernetic implant above his gray eyes. His temples were covered in gray hair, giving him the appearance of a man slightly older than him. "Winter! I was just coming to see –" He stopped speaking when he caught sight of the people with the woman, his brow furrowing in annoyance when his eyes met the man's. "Qrow. It's... What a _surprise..._ " He glanced past him at Yang, especially the air where her right forearm should have been. "Ah, I see. You're late." He held his gloved hand out to her. "Well, I can get you in there and started at least. Come along. It will be quite some time before the implantation is completed. Two days, perhaps. More, if she wants to include her weapon in the arm's design."

"Oh, hell yes!" Yang said, running past the general. She turned around past him. "See you in..."

"Four days."

"Four days! I'll give you guys a _hand_ when I get out!" Yang shouted, already laughing boisterously at her own joke.

Ironwood took a step back, the joke already making him regret spending any time alone with the young woman. He lifted his head and took a breath. "Qrow. Winter," he said, looking at them both with heavy set eyes. He frowned and nodded as the doors began to close. "We'll speak about this later."

The lift began to fall immediately after the doors slid shut, leaving the group minus one member. They were silent for some time before Winter broke the silence. "My sister claimed that her sense of humor was terrible. I just didn't realize _how_ terrible," Winter said, suddenly breaking the silence.

It elicited a laugh from everyone present, especially Qrow. "I didn't realize you had a sense of humor, Winter. It's nice to see that even you're human too."

"Um, speaking of Weiss," Neptune cut in before the Atlesian could retort and start a whole very weird way of flirting with Qrow. The blue haired boy suddenly sounded incredibly nervous. Winter looked over at the blue haired young man and his downcast face, raising one intrigued and snow-white eyebrow. "Can we... see her?"

Winter sighed and turned around to face them. "I may... have a way," she said after a long pause of consideration. She glanced between the three of them and bit her lip to consider the three. "You'll need to dress in more appropriate clothing if you wish to blend in at one of my younger sister's recitals."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Neo watched the blonde cat Faunus with deep interest, studying her from within her private booth within the bar. A bowl of her namesake was in front of her, half eaten and almost entirely melted into three distinct sections. She twirled the spoon, causing the three colors to spiral together at the center of the bowl before removing it and drawing something into the soup of ice cream. The colors traced over one another until the shape of a laughing monster. "Still hung up on Roman I see." The mute's hand wrapped around the handle of her umbrella and she brought it up threateningly. Her guest, however, didn't care. Cinder Fall, clearly not shy about revealing who she was, slid into place on the opposite side of the booth. Neo let her umbrella fall and looked over at her now unconscious guards. Why did she even bother paying them if they couldn't do anything right?

"Them? It's not like they could have stopped me even if I didn't sneak up on them," the mastermind of the Vytal plot said dismissively. She smirked when Emerald and Mercury rounded the corner and crossed their arms. "They couldn't even stop those two."

Neo rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and dropping her umbrella to lean against the booth. Cinder had quite the annoying need to make everything she did stand out, and that was coming from someone who dressed like an ice cream dish had landed on a mobster. Neo looked over at the Faunus she had been watching; her mark had disappeared. Neo cursed internally and returned her gaze to Cinder. She hated that woman; without her, Roman would still be alive.

"I'm not the one who killed him," Cinder pointed out simply. She placed her elbows on the table and tented her hands in front of her face. "Who was the last person with him?"

Red. Neo's eyes narrowed and she clenched her fist on the table, her hatred for the woman in front of her suddenly dwarfed by that she held for the Huntress in training.

"That's right. Ruby Rose," Cinder agreed, once again sounding as if she could read the mute's mind. "She killed the only person on this world you actually cared about. I'd say that is an unforgivable crime, wouldn't you?"

Neo glanced down and frowned. This woman was offering something, for some reason that meant this was what Cinder wanted even more than Neo desired it. Which meant that this was going to lead into something big – maybe even bigger than what Cinder had done in Vale and Haven before going silent. What the hell would all that time planning become? Neo nodded for Cinder to continue.

"How would you like to kill the person most important to her?" Cinder inquired with an evil smile. She stood up and held her hand out to Neo, making it clear there was no time to consider her response. "It seems like good payment for your continued aid, doesn't it?"

Neo reached up and, without any apprehension in her movements, took the woman's hand. "Good. Let's get going," Cinder pulled Neo out of the building, Mercury and Emerald following in their footsteps. "I can't wait to see the look on that little girl's face when Sora is dead in front of her."


	24. White

**AN:**

 **So, I'm not quite sure if I've said this yet, but everyone except Ruby on Team RWBY will be wearing their alt uniforms from season two, despite the introduction of the time skip outfits. You know, since there wasn't one in this. They'll probably show up at the end, though. The Yang one already did for a little while. My favorite right now is Blake's – I think it's the coolest redesign.**

 **To gamelover41592: I love Qrow/Winter! I'm happy the buildup is going well, too. I actually had to cut some parts from this chapter to keep pacing right.**

 **To Gravenimage: Can't wait? You won't have to wait long! Next chapter we'll have the girl show up with fists flaming.**

 **To grimlock987: Kind of. Sora is going to need help, but it won't be the same guy as him. Xehanort's body was a nearly broken down Replica so if his Nobody shows up it'll be a very broken one this time.**

 **To guest(A): You don't have to wait for that miracle. Sora won't be getting his Keyblade for a little while, but he's going to get something** ** _very_** **soon. And I'm with you – Kingdom Hearts has infinite Crossover potential given pretty much everything about it. Different worlds, a common 'friendship' theme. It might be one of the easiest to attach to combine with other stories.**

 **To sethman610: Oh yeah. KH may be amazing, but some of the explanations for things are completely insane. DDD is nuts, and this is a franchise where the main character had to use physical cards to remember how to fight while in a magic castle. It's amazing, but it can be a lot. As for Tai, Oz needed someone to go check in on the other Maidens, so he'll be showing up more once Salem's group is after them.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Neo is going to be super dangerous when she gets back. Her Illusion Semblance was a bit stronger than Emerald's, and her fight with Sora is going to be really important when it happens. Fenrir is going to be better against Heartless than the wooden sword was; strong Hearted people like Leon could use steel weapons to kill Heartless after all.**

 **To LightJakRises: Thanks, I put a lot of thought into the story before I started it.**

 **To ShadicZX: I wouldn't mind some help on team up Limits like in KH2. I mostly come up with them as I'm writing, but help would be great so I can plan it out better! Thanks!**

 **To Guest(B): I can't wait for any of those! KH3 especially, given we've been waiting for that for over a decade!**

 **To xblaster956: Thanks for the compliments! I hope to keep impressing you with the story's direction.**

 _ **Chapter 24: White**_

" _ **Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow, for the Heart has no metrics or forms of measure. And all of it... Irreplaceable"**_

Ruby groaned as she sat down in her seat at the theater, her mind shifting between her intense dislike for clothes she couldn't easily fight in – her high heels especially – and her excitement over seeing her partner again. Neptune placed himself to her left and tried to hide the excited grin that was spreading across his face. "Whoa there, Neptune," Ruby said, hitting him with her elbow. "Calm down, buddy. We're in the front row, do you want the first thing Weiss sees before she starts singing to be your creepy daydreaming face?" Neptune didn't respond. He looked down and continued trying to calm himself.

Things were even more awkward to Ruby's right. Qrow sat immediately next to her, hands clasped in his lap while he stared straight ahead with his best forced calm face. He was wearing the tie he had worn to the dance in Haven, but that was the only change in his outfit. It was obvious, even to the most novice observer who took everything at face value – for example, Ruby – that he was deeply uncomfortable however. He had scooched as far left as his seat would allow, since to the man's right sat the source of his discomfort, a tall woman dressed in all white. Winter didn't look much calmer than Qrow did, however. She was as far right in her seat as she could be, fingers tapping against her thighs and a similarly forced smiling gracing her features. "Is this thing going to start anytime soon?" Qrow asked, voice gruff and tired.

Ruby silently was wondering the same thing, tugging at the fabric of her dress where she sat. The sooner it began, the sooner they could talk to Weiss. The sooner they talked to Weiss, the sooner they could get the team back together. The sooner they got the band back together, the sooner she could change out of this Godforsaken dress. Ruby was itching for a fight, something to do other than just wait. "I'm bored," she groaned, leaning back in her seat and staring at the white and red ceiling. "Can't we just go backstage and get her?"

"And alert my father to your presence?" Winter asked without looking over at the young woman. She shook her head almost imperceptibly. "You would never see my younger sister again unless she was surrounded by a dozen of my peers. Effectively, you would never Weiss... ever again."

"Fine," Ruby muttered angrily.

"Sit up straight," Winter said, her tone communicating she was done listening to whining. Ruby shot up and suddenly found herself sitting like the platinum blonde, one leg crossed over the other and hands clasped in her lap.

"H-how did you do that?" Ruby wondered as she tried to return to how she was sitting before. She wasn't succeeding. Winter looked over at Ruby from the corner of her eyes, and the younger woman swore she saw a smile form on the Specialist's features. Ruby glanced over at Qrow and for the first time thought the man was going to have a very interesting life if he kept chasing after the woman. She knew better than to voice her suspicions, and instead turned her thoughts to purposefully avoiding the Keyblade. Having _that_ suddenly appear from thin air would draw way too much attention to her and her friends, and probably wind up getting them captured by the Atlesian Military. Qrow had made it clear that everyone wanted to know what a Keyblade was and how to get one, so the only reason she wasn't already underground being experimented upon was because of Winter. That could easily change if the Schnee patriarch saw the magical weapon, however.

The lights dimmed a moment later and a deep quiet overtook the theater, almost deathly. A single beam of light collided with the velvet curtains atop the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome... Weiss Schnee performing _Mirror,_ " a voice called over the sound system. As soon as the last word's echo faded into the silent buzz of the air, the curtains slowly began to part from the top. The circular beam of light shot forward to reveal a young woman with white hair. She looked remarkably like Winter, though her face somehow seemed less severe and much more innocent. Ruby supposed that made sense – she was still the only member of the Team to have not seen the deaths and pain of friends so intimately.

Weiss Schnee's slightly sad frown was accented by the bright light; she probably wanted to be there even less than Ruby did. The young woman was wearing a white dress with black accents and a popped collar; it had black double breasted buttons that gave the young woman a clean, business like look rather than her usual princess style. Black style lines highlighted the shape of the dress-jacket. Ruby knew from memory that the back of the dress had a print of the Schnee Snowflake in a collor matching her eyes. The skirt of the dress had a warm albeit frilly black fabric that filled the space around the woman's legs and ended slightly above the thigh high, black stockings that edged just above her white, leathery boots. One thin, icicle like earring hung from each of Weiss' earlobes. The young woman opened her pale blue eyes, the sad frown extending into them.

Well, until she caught sight of Ruby Rose in the front row. Ruby, despite knowing she should remain quiet, could simply not contain herself. She stood up and, waving her left hand above her head as she did and cupping the other around her mouth, shouted at the top of her lungs, " _WEISS! HEY BEST BUDDY!_ "

Weiss cringed with every syllable, shrinking further and further away from the source of the noise. That didn't stop her from smiling with every syllable, though. _Idiot_ , she thought fondly of her partner.

"I'm here too!" Weiss' eyes followed the source of the second voice to lock onto a familiar blue head of hair. Neptune was trying to play it cool, but he couldn't hide the goofy smile spreading across his face.

 _Idiot_ **s** _,_ she noted, smile still widening.

"Idiots," Winter grumbled under her breath, knowing this would not end well. She looked up at the box her father had reserved, not knowing if it was good or bad that it was empty. She'd been... distracted walking in and hadn't noted if he had been there. She sighed when the lights began to brighten above them, a sign that what had just happened had indeed been noticed by the theater goers.

"Apologies, there seems to be trouble makers in the first row."

"And that's our cue to leave," Winter told her group. She looked up at her sister and motioned for her to meet them outside before grabbing Qrow, who grabbed Ruby, and bolted. Ruby's hand shot out to keep balance and she grabbed Neptune by the collar, the two of them being dragged along behind the two veteran Huntsmen.

"Bye, Best Friend!" Ruby shouted as she bounced along the ground. Weiss shook her head and turned to sneak out before her father's bodyguards could get to her.

"Bye, Snow Angel!" Weiss froze and blushed, torn between the blinding, livid rage springing from the mere idea that she had been called such in public, and a level of over excited giddiness at seeing Neptune and her best friend once more. Again, not that she would ever admit Ruby was her best friend. The twin feelings only lasted for a moment before the heiress knew she had no more time left to squander smiling like a dunce in front of hundreds of spectators, so she soon sprinted off stage despite the cries of the announcer for someone to stop her. She couldn't be stopped now, she had friends to see. Not that she would betray just how excited she was, of course. That would be unbecoming of a young woman of Weiss' station, especially in front of Winter!

 _ **R W B Y**_

The bullhead was silent, save for the loud whir of the powerful engines that kept the huge block of metal soaring towards the peak of the cliff hanging above Vale's capital city. Sora could tell that neither of the teachers in the hold were enthusiastic about what was happening, given that the young man had not shown the great advancement towards gaining a Keyblade that they had all hoped. He was better with Fenrir, but he was still not sure if he would do well fighting against the huge numbers of Grimm that would be waiting for him and Ozpin. If he wasn't, he knew it was his own fault: he'd basically threatened to go even if they didn't let him.

Ozpin didn't seem to mind, of course. He was just smiling with his eyes shut, as if he was enjoying a leisurely ride through the country. His cane was laid across his lap with the handle in his right hand, the only indication that he was ready for a fight at all. Beneath that facade of relaxation, Sora knew that the green suited former Keyblade Master was likely an explosion of stress. Ozpin had been at, essentially, war for over twelve centuries with the only person to whom he could really relate. Sora had at first believed Ozpin could simply easily force himself to be happier, like Sora himself could. But the young man had gotten better over the years at seeing what people really thought, and saw the truth behind the stance. Ozpin's knuckles were white where they wrapped around the weapon across his legs, and his jaw was clenched tight behind his carefree smile. He had escaped his incarceration at the hands of Salem, but only at the cost of his saviors' strength. They were going to reclaim the Journal, perhaps accelerating Sora's reclamation of his abilities and the future defeat of Salem's darkness. But even Sora's endless optimism had also become somewhat tempered by the knowledge that the other shoe would inevitably drop.

Miss Goodwitch, on the other hand, was not quite as good at hiding her true feelings about this... misadventure upon which Sora and Ozpin were about to embark. She was definitely more calm and well put together than she had been when Sora had first met her, though Sora was starting to understand that the professor was usually hovering somewhere between completely focused and absurdly stressed. She was standing, which seemed the only way she could take part in any sort of flight, just beside the door to the cockpit. This of course annoyed the pilot to no end, especially since she was barely fighting off the desire to run in and take over the airship with every small bout of turbulence. Her struggle with that desire seemed to be the only thing that made the former Headmaster truly smile. "We will be there soon, Glynda," Ozpin said placatingly after one of her near episodes. She merely glared at him with a look that could freeze fire. It only served to broaden the man's amused smirk. There was another bout of turbulence and the Bullhead's pilot slammed the door shut before Glynda could flinch towards the controls.

"Beginning descent," the pilot announced, relief at the shutting of the door evident in her voice. From the stories Jaune had told him, most people respected Goodwitch but were more than happy to not be around her. Sora's head fell despite himself while he thought of Jaune, thinking of the other young man. Sora knew it was only a matter of time before either he crossed blades with the blonde warrior or Ruby did. Sora wasn't sure who would fare worse against the new Keyblade Wielder being trained by the creator of the first Keyblades herself – a novice Keyblade Wielder with only a month of training or a Keyblade Master without his weapon? Sora was quickly thrown from his thoughts when the bullhead shook again, the airship slamming against the grounds of Beacon Academy.

Glynda took a deep breath and turned to Sora and Ozpin. "I do not like this," she restated calmly, her eyes narrowing and her glare growing hotter – passionately concerned, one could say. She coughed and cleared the emotion from her mind. She pressed a button on the wall and the door to the vehicle opened on the side of the hold. Sora glanced over instinctively and saw that they had landed on a cliff outcropping that overlooked the Emerald Forest. "Which is why you _will_ be back here in three hours or every Huntsman from here to Atlas will be hunting you down."

"Three hours?" Ozpin asked, a ghost of a smirk on his features. He nodded and his smirk became an honest albeit quiet smile. "We will be back by then, Glynda. I assure you." Ozpin wrapped his arm around Sora's shoulder and began to pull him from the ship. "Perhaps after this we can launch Sora into the forest off of this cliff, hm? He needs the training."

"What?" Sora managed to get out before the gray haired man dragged him from the dryly unamused woman's presence. He blinked and was suddenly standing outside of the Bullhead on the cliff's edge. Goodwitch, standing on the cusp of the Bullhead's entrance, let her eyes soften and she shook her head in amusement. Her right hand twitched to wave them off, but it stopped before it even began to rise. Instead, the woman let her head dip just barely before rising to stare straight ahead again. She slammed her hand onto the controls for the door and it slid shut in front of her.

Ozpin watched the Bullhead rise with his same quiet smile before looking down at Sora. "We should go. Three hours is not quite as long as it seems, given the concentration of Grimm in the region," he said once the Bullhead was a few miles from the cliff face. The man turned towards the towering spires of Beacon and failed to hold in a sigh of contentment. "Home. Even destroyed, it is quite nice to be back." He took a breath before motioning for Sora to follow him down the path towards the Emerald towers. "We should hurry if you wish to avoid needless battles with Grimm."

"Right," Sora said, following Ozpin. He frowned. "Wait, 'If _I_ wish to avoid battles?'"

Ozpin laughed once and tossed his cane into the air, gabbing the center and walking calmly along in front of Sora. "Mister Nomura, we are still trying to train you. That will not happen if I am fighting your battles for you, will it?"

Sora looked over at Ozpin dryly. "Are you sure it's not just because you're a little lazy?" the young man asked. When Ozpin smirked without denying it, Sora's head fell in disbelief. "Why am I even surprised?"

Around half an hour later, the two of them were standing a few hundred yards from Beacon's main gate, examining the sea of shadowy flesh and bone dry masks that milled about in front of them. The creatures would occasionally roar in rage and desire towards the massive dragon, a silent sentinel far above waiting for the forces of Darkness to reignite its power. "So that's where we're going, isn't it?" Sora asked, gesturing up at the petrified monster.

"Not quite," the old man muttered quietly. He pointed just past the gates of the school, towards a statue of a young man and woman standing victoriously on a cliff edge above a statue of a Beowolf. The woman was dressed in a hooded raiment that reminded Sora vaguely of Ruby, and the man in armor and a sword raised above his head so he looked like Jaune. "There is a small compartment within the statue. It contains the Journal, as well as other items of a... personal nature." Ozpin fell silent for a while then cleared his throat. "Anyways, you'll need a plan to get us over there."

"Any help?" Sora asked.

"You're clever. Figure it out," Ozpin responded.

Sora narrowed his eyes on the man. "Gee, thanks," he muttered before turning his attention on the entrance to the school's grounds. The Grimm were swarming the area, filling the grounds of the school and growing more and more dense – and more and more dangerous individually – the closer to the Dragon one got. However, there were very few of the creatures nearby that had the ability of flight, and the creatures avoided the statue itself like it was poisonous. As soon as they got there, they might be able to ignore the vast majority of Grimm before making their way back. Whatever else Ozpin was hiding in there, it must have an intense Light aura to keep away those creatures. Sora let his gaze drift to his left and saw a locker. Ruby and the others had said something about them... He grinned and pointed. "There. We'll use that to get over there."

Ozpin smiled and nodded without looking over. "You found an answer," he said, swinging to a standing position and walking towards the rocket powered locker with Sora. "Allow me." He shut the door and began to type a set of numbers into the screen on the front. "There we go." He grabbed Sora's arm with one hand and jammed his cane into the metal finish with his other. "Hold on tight." Sora's eyes widened and he grabbed onto Ozpin's arm just as the rockets activated and the locker shot up with enough force to nearly take Sora's arm from it's socket. He screamed in a combination of fear and fun while the two of them flew through the sky.

Until the ride suddenly ended in a rain of stone and metal. Sora's body hurt all over and he groaned. "Ow. Bad idea," he muttered when he pushed himself to his feet. Ozpin, of course, had landed softly on his feet, one foot atop the end of the locker so he looked like a hero ready to run off into battle. Sora looked around and saw a thousand angry, evil eyes locked on him and Ozpin. Thankfully, Ozpin _was_ keeping something there that kept the creatures away. Ozpin himself was staring directly into the eyes of the Beowolf statue with a heavy frown. Wordlessly, the man walked towards the statue and reached into its open mouth before quickly removing it.

The statues themselves whirred with a loud, angry groan and began to move. The Grimm hissed and was dragged forward, past the cliff carving. There was a loud clank and a small door slid open suddenly on the wall. A small door opened with a quiet clink, and Ozpin motioned for the young man to walk towards it. Sora nodded and did as he was told, pushing himself to his feet and standing beside the veteran warrior. Ozpin stood stone still and looked away from the opening. "Go ahead, young man. I will..." he looked out at the monsters surrounding them. "Go ahead."

Sora watched the man for a moment, then reached into the opening and pulled out a simple, metal box perhaps two feet by one foot with eight inches of depth. The Grimm hissed as the box graced the light of day. They retreated a few steps and Sora frowned in confusion. Sora stared at them for a few more seconds before he sat down on the edge of the statue's base and placed the box beside him. He flicked his thumb and the box's latch flipped upward so Sora could open it. Sora hesitated for a moment, unsure of what he would find within. But he knew it was what remained of his friends – no matter how sad it was they deserved to say goodbye. He took a single deep breath and flipped open the box's top.

Within were only a few items. The one that caught his eye first was the Journal, ancient and a worn out white color. A symbol shaped like Mickey's head was at the center, above a line that had a loopy name written atop it – Jiminy's signature. Sora let his open palm drag across it for a moment and he smiled sadly. He took it out and placed it softly at his side, having grown intrigued by the other things in the box.

Beneath where the book had been resting was a collection of items that Sora could tell were older than anything he could imagine. Mementos and artifacts from the place in which Ozpin had been born. There was a folded up letter with the name ' _Salem_ ' written across it, so Sora knew he should probably avoid that one. It didn't feel right to look at it, especially with its author likely standing only a few feet away, so he just moved on to the next item. It was a Keychain for a Keyblade, its links made up of gray and green metals. The pendant of the item itself was what looked like a curled up scorpion with a single, bright blue eye like the one on Riku or Xehanort's weapons. Sora picked it up and looked over at Ozpin. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked.

Ozpin glanced back at Sora for a moment from where he was standing, leaning against the cliff face of the statue, and nodded. "Yes. That is the Keychain of my first Keyblade, Libidious Sting," Ozpin explained, his eyes closing after only a second of taking in the face of the ancient remnant of his weapon. "It is all that remains since I shattered my ability to summon the weapon. But even memories such as that hold great power. I kept it here in the hope it would keep the Grimm away from the school. It did, until that creature appeared. Now all it can protect is this small circle of Light. It seems that is all I can protect."

Sora looked down at the Keychain in his open palm and cautiously placed it back into the box. For a moment he thought he understood Ozpin better, even what he had done to Pyrrha. Didn't allow it, didn't agree, but understood. Then it was gone. Sora stared at the Keychain for a little while longer before looking over at the final item within the box.

It was a picture frame, simple and made of a mahogany wood. The colors of the pictures were faded and grayed, but enough remained that Sora could see everything within. "That's..." he bit his lower lip, keeping back the words and fighting the tears in his eyes. He took the picture out and held it in front of his face with a sad smile. The picture was of eight people, two of whom were clearly older than the others. One of these adults was a man with gray hair and green clothes, a warm smile on his face beneath his green sunglasses. Ozpin. His arm was over the other adult's shoulders, this one a woman who smiled invitingly despite her striking appearance. Her red and black eyes and snow white hair – Sora knew that woman had to be Salem. They were... friends, it appeared. More, maybe.

But the thing that scared Sora the most was the six kids – all of them no older than fourteen – who were with them. One was a child with bright yellow hair and a wide, goofy smile. Another was a woman with blue hair and bright, knowledgeable but kind smile. Third was a boy with dark skin and brown hair taller than the first two, his long hair accompanied by a confident grin on his face. The fourth was boy with a serious face and white hair; his arms were crossed over the gold shirt adorning his chest while he fought off his smile that he had directed at the camera taking the photo. Fifth was a read headed girl whose eyes were shut, adding to the quiet strength of her kind smile. And finally Sora's eyes locked onto the spiky brown head, blue eyes, and wild laugh of the last boy. Of himself. Ventus. Aqua. Terra. Riku... Kairi. And himself. The tears welled up in his eyes again and he felt a few stream down his cheeks unbidden. "Damn it," he growled to himself, slamming his open palm into his eye to try and mop up the tears. His memories flashed through his head, moments spent with each of them, no matter how few there were. He buried his eyes in his sleeve and held off a sob.

"Ah, yes. That was a good day," Ozpin said when he saw what Sora had seen. He looked up when a low growl and rumble ran through the crowd of Grimm. "Unfortunately, you must pull yourself together, Mister Nomura. The creatures are -"

The man was cut off by a sudden explosion of Darkness from deep within the horde of Grimm, the black-purple energy spreading like fire until it towered above them in the distance. Ozpin twirled the weapon to grip it in one hand. "Behind me, Mister Nomura," he growled, readying his defense to protect the two of them. He palled, for he was for the first time in a very long time completely unsure of what he was about to face. Sora wasn't responding, instead just staring at the picture in his hands and sobbing quietly. "Mister Nomura..? Sora!"

Then the creature attacked, and Ozpin's eyes widened in fear. "No!" he whispered as the monster appeared in front of him, the gaping hole in its pitch chest describing the truth of what it was. A being that Ozpin had thought exterminated from this world before its birth. He could only say its name as it snaked its way through the Grimm that surrounded them, shrieking and tearing them apart. Destroying them, devouring them. The monster, with cloth straps wrapped around its body and giving it an even more evil and broken look, turned towards the source of Light and roared hungrily for their Hearts. Then it shot off right at Sora and Ozpin, it's malice filled yellow eyes seeming to absorb the entire world into the Darkness.

Then Sora stood up and the Light returned in a bright flash. Sora stood between Ozpin and the Heartless, Fenrir in his right hand and a glowing star in his left that matched the fire in his stance. He brought it up to his chest and said, "Give me strength, guys. Lea, Ven, Aqua, Terra, Riku, Kairi, come on!" Fire shot out from the star in his hand, then air, water, earth rose from the ground followed by the Dark remains of the Grimm and finally the light itself. Each of them rose to form different shaped Keys that hovered above his shoulders with their tips pointed at the ground. Fenrir in his right hand began to glow bright, a blade of Light lengthening it and burning with rage. "Heartless!" Then Sora dashed forward, the giant keys following him like the top edge of a wing.

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _Fifteen Years before the First Great Keyblade War_

The door exploded inward, the shards of wood and metal flying throughout the room and burying itself in the flesh of the criminals who had been waiting within. Cards fell to the table accompanied by grunts of surprise and pain while others shouted out as they slammed into the walls from the shock of it. Before any of them could draw their weapons, one of their number was surprised by an explosive ball of fire crashing into his chest. The man roared in sudden pain when the concussive force sent him flying into one of his comrades, the flames on his clothes spreading across his body and burning the other man, too. That was the point when all the others' weapons were drawn and readied, aimed towards the smoke filled doorway.

A lone man walked through the door, a shadowy figure obscured by the smoke. He had a hood pulled up over his head that disguised the shape of his head, and a coat that stretched all the way down to his ankles and the air rushing out of the building caused the coat to flutter lightly away from his body and reveal his dark green pants. A metal bar dangled from his loose grip in his left hand, and a matching one rested on top of his right shoulder. "You all have one chance to put down your weapons. That's all you're getting," the man explained, fingers tightening around his weapons while he began to shift his body into a fighting stance. Nobody moved. "Really? I thought one of you would at least be smart about this." He stood still and shook his hooded head in disappointment. "Fine. If this is what you truly desire."

The man didn't flinch when the men ran right at him, all twelve of them. He just waited until they and their weapons were close enough for him to raise his weapons above his head. "Wind!" An explosion of air appeared at his words, stunning the criminal warriors and sending them flying away. The hood of the man's coat flapped in the wind and fell from his head, revealing the gray hair and disappointed scowl of Ozpin. As soon as the last of his opponents slammed into the ground, he dashed ahead to finish them off one by one. He landed a swift blow into the first one's nose with his heel, jumping from the man's face and bringing both of his weapons over his head. They slammed into the next man's face. There was a loud crunch as the man's eye socket gave beneath the blow.

"Watch out!" Ozpin turned around and raised both of his escrima defensively in anticipation of the blow, only for a young man in a red jacket and black pants to slam feet first into the incoming criminal's face. The criminal groaned in pain while the boy back flipped off of his face. The young man grinned as he landed on his feet and drew his sword from his side. His spiky brown hair rustled while he shook his head at Ozpin. "Come on, Oz. Don't you always tell me to watch my back?"

Oz didn't respond to Skye's mocking statement, and instead tossed one of his weapons right past the young man's ear. That shut him up rather quickly, especially once it bounced right off of an opponent's face and clattered against the ground. "And I'm _still_ telling you, it seems," the young man's mentor said dryly. He lashed out behind himself with his foot and another enemy fell to the ground like a useless sack of bricks. He placed his foot on the ground and raised his remaining weapon above his head. "Thunder!" Massive bolts of yellow electricity fell from the sky, stunning the remaining seven enemies and letting the third of their number easily dispatch them.

"So where do we go now, Salem?" Ozpin asked. He knelt and picked up his other escrima, placing them both in their holsters on his hips. He looked over at the woman as she wiped blood from the blade of her sword and sheathed it as well. Her face drifted upward, her disinterested glare locking onto Oz. The man shivered – fights always made her behave... oddly.

The glare turned into a small smile after a moment and she walked up to Oz and Skye. "You're getting good at that magic thing, Oz," she said while she smoothed out her black and red combat dress. She pulled a map out from a pack on her belt and unrolled it, examining the layout of the building they were in at the moment. "The three rooms are there – mine – there – Oz's. And the last one has a locked door, so the kid should have no problem getting in."

Skye shot Ozpin a dry look that rang with the words 'I told you so.' The warrior just shook his head and gave his own glare to Salem. "Oh, come on. I'm just having a little bit of fun," she said with a smile and a shrug.

"It's... it's fine," Ozpin said, quietly annoyed with how she treated the kid. Four years of it was getting bored and old. "If any of us find the children we get them out first then come help the others." The others nodded, and Ozpin drew them both into a hug. "Be careful, you two." Then he pushed them to arm's length and sprinted towards his door.

Salem and Skye glared at each other for a while, their mutual dislike clear on their faces. Still – "Don't get hurt. Oz'd cry for weeks if his girlfriend died," Skye stated, crossing his arms and smirking at the woman.

Salem glared down at him and shook her head. "And Oz has a soft spot for you, too," she finally muttered. She sighed and grabbed his shoulder. "So for his sake you stay alive, too." She and Skye smiled begrudgingly at one another and then ran in opposite directions.

Salem ran through the door to what she quickly saw was a laboratory with notes littered all around the tables and walls. She walked up to the nearest one and her eyes grew hungry while she examined it. The page, it was adorned with the image of the **χ** -blade, lines pointing towards it and describing some of its characteristics. She read through one of the paragraphs and giddily found that it was describing Darkness, but by a much less interesting name – Shadow. She continued through and found herself looking directly at images of children. Five, to be exact, and each of them individuals who had found themselves in the company of the **χ** -blade. Two girls and three boys that all looked very different. And just about the same age as Skye; the scientific part of her mind told Salem there was simply no chance that was a coincidence. Her eyes began to drift towards a theory on the makeup of the **χ** -blade when she was surprised from behind by an unknown voice.

"You are interested in my research, it would seem." Salem drew her sword and turned on her heel, angling the weapon at the man standing opposite her in a white lab coat. He had white hair that reached the small of his back, deeply tanned skin, and burning yellow eyes. He looked to be around his mid thirties and _deeply_ intelligent. "Aliux. And you are Salem, one of the current **χ** -blade scholars."

Salem raised one eyebrow. "How did you know that?" she asked, keeping her weapon on the man. No one save Oz, Skye, and certain Scholars knew that.

"The **χ** -blade, I've been studying it and its effects for a very long time," the scientist explained. He clasped his hands behind his back and smiled calmly. "The glint in your eyes. The weapon has Shadow in it, the same Shadow in you now."

"But you haven't seen it," the woman responded, her smile widening.

Aliux laughed. "No. No, I have not had the opportunity to follow my Calling. It's there, but it does not want me to see it," he said, his voice becoming hollow and angry with every word. "I wanted your book long ago. My men were stupid and your ally made short work of them. Then you took the other child from me. Both small losses, in the long run, but annoying nonetheless."

The man sighed and looked away from Salem before saying, "But this is _not_ a small loss. How did you find me here?"

"We followed your men here. They're not very intelligent," Salem explained with a shrug. "I'd say you should look into hiring better thugs, but it wouldn't help since you're not going to have this job much longer."

The white haired man nodded, smirking as he did. "You're killing me, are you? You like the taste of Shadow."

"Darkness," Salem responded, shaking her head. "I'm not going to kill you."

Aliux nodded. "Yes you are. It's in that glint of Sh – Darkness." He reached down to his belt and pulled out a dagger. "I'm not going to let that happen, however." He rushed the pale woman and slashed at her throat. She brought her blade up to deflect the attack and lashed out with her foot. The blow landed in his gut and he stumbled backwards. Obviously, this man was not a fighter.

Salem, however, was. She ran forward and her sword flashed in her hand. It slid across Aliux' throat and his white coat was soon stained red. Salem blinked in surprise and looked down at the body, as if she was unsure just what had just happened. That she had liked it, for some reason. She stared at the blood suddenly pooling around the corpse and filling the room with a sickly sweet, ferrous smell. She dropped her sword hurriedly and began to edge away from the room, scared by what had just happened when her breath caught and she found herself staring at the notes on the **χ** -blade. She was torn, taking the notes or leaving them or destroying them...

"Guys! Guys, I found them!" Skye called. Salem looked over her shoulder for a moment, then made her choice.

When she found Skye, he was standing outside of the door to the cell in which. "That's the girl I got those losers to ignore when we met," the kid explained while pointing at a young woman with bright red hair. Ozpin frowned and examined each of the children – all of them were wearing rags and had bruises across their faces and bodies. He nodded seriously at the prisoners and smiled comfortingly. "It's gonna be okay, guys."

"Disgusting," Ozpin growled, livid at the idea that someone would do this to children. He looked over at Salem. "Did you see any indication as to -" his voice caught upon seeing the torture evident from their bruises "- as to _why?_ "

Salem was silent for while, then looked up. "They've all seen it. Each of them. I destroyed the rest of what he had – no one should have these notes," she said quietly. Ozpin stared at her for a while, making her more and more uncomfortable before he finally nodded and looked back at the kids.

"I'm going to get you out of there, come on," Ozpin told the kids, nodding as he did. "It's going to be okay." He stood up and leveled his escrima on the lock of the door, summoning a burst of ice to explode against it. It hissed as it cooled and suddenly shattered from the freezing cold. The door hissed open and the five kids ran out – first the blue haired girl and brown haired boy helping a younger blonde boy out of the cell door. Next was the serious white haired boy and finally the innocent looking young woman with red hair. He grouped them together and began to shepherd them out of the building. "Let's get going."

"I'm Skye!" the young man shouted, introducing himself with his trademark friendly grin. He waited for a response, but when none came he looked over at the redhead girl. "What's your name?"

Salem watched them go and reached into her pocket to grip the notes she had taken. She pulled them out and studied them again for a moment. "The **χ** -blade calls out to a very specific group of people, ones with indomitable wills. However, the place in which the Call is felt is not the brain, as my dissections will attest; the weapon calls out to the Heart – the metaphysical core of one's being. My studies have found a way to access this core of one's being to study the call and affect the Heart, the designs for which have been include-" She clenched her fist and pocketed the notes again. This was the last key – she scoffed. That was an apt description for what she had found. She had everything she needed, now, to complete her experiments. She just hoped Oz would forgive her if he ever found out.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"WEISS!" The white haired woman looked up in surprise as a blur of red crashed into her and she was sent flying into the wall. Ruby was hugging her tight enough to make Yang jealous in the strength department. Ruby hugged her even tighter and Weiss began to choke while Ruby shouted, "Weiss it's so great to see you!"

Between gurgles Weiss managed to get out, "...Choking me... you... Dunce! Urgh!"

Ruby yelped in surprise and let go of her partner. "Sorry, best friend," she muttered a high pitched apology. She laughed nervously and clasped her fingers behind her head.

"You look like Sora doing that," Neptune said, coming to a stop beside Ruby. She laughed nervously again, letting her hands fall to her side and muttering in embarrassment. Neptune looked over at Weiss next and laughed. "Hey. Long time no see, Snow Angel." He looked at the ground, cheeks flushed red.

Weiss did the same. "Hi yourself, Neptune," she responded with a girlish giggle, much to the delight of Ruby. The younger girl began to chant a song about 'K-I-S-S-I-N-G!' until Weiss glared angrily at her. The white haired heiress stomped her foot on the ground like she was about to throw a tantrum and huffed: "Stop it!"

"Weiss," Winter snapped as she walked up, causing the younger Schnee to yelp in surprise and fear. The young woman mumbled an apology and clasped her hands in front of her, staring at the ground and trying to fight off the intense red growing in her cheeks. Winter stopped and crossed her arms and began to tap her toes against the ground. "I am afraid I did not hear that, Sister."

"Sorry, Ruby," Weiss grumbled loud enough for all present to hear.

"I humbly accept your apology, my good woman!" Ruby responded in her most affected 'well mannered' voice. She curtsied poorly and wobbled in her heels. "Oo-eep!" She began to slowly topple, but swung her arms up and spun them around in a barely successful attempt at reclaiming her balance. She slowly stood up and placed her hands proudly on her hips. She raised one finger and pointed it at Qrow while clicking her tongue and winking. "Nailed it."

"I cannot believe this is the Neptune individual my sister finds herself incapable of talking about without blushing like a school girl," Winter said, causing Neptune to smile and wiggle his blue eyebrows at Weiss. Winter frowned. "I must say, I am disappointed – I had always assumed my sister would have enjoyed the company of more serious suitors."

Neptune's head whipped towards Winter and he growled. "You're one to talk," he mocked. "You want to make out with Qrow."

"Please stop," the Huntsman cut in before this could continue. And also to keep Winter, whose hand was drifting closer and closer to the sword she had on her hip, from murdering the young blue headed man. He raised his hands in front of him to calm the woman, grabbing her arm and pulling it away from her weapon. "We have things we need to talk about."

"Like... where's that boy with the big key?" Weiss asked. She frowned. "And how's Yang doing?"

"Sora's in Vale, looking for Blake. Oh, I can't wait for you to meet him! He's great and fun and a great fighter!" Ruby shouted excitedly. Then she raised her hands above her. "And Yang's here!"

"What? Where is she?" Weiss asked, eyes sparkling and joy in her voice.

"She's getting a new arm!" Ruby shouted excitedly. She made robotic like moves and beeped a few times. "When we pick her up tomorrow morning, she's gonna be a cyborg... Yang thinks it's almost better than having her old arm." Ruby snickered, rolled her eyes, and flipped her wrist like it was a joke. "The weirdo."

 _ **Yang**_ _is the weirdo?_ Weiss thought while looking dryly at Ruby. Of course, what did it say about Weiss that all her friends acted like that? It probably made her the weird one, if she was being honest with herself. "Why are you here the -" Weiss froze and looked over at her sister, who was smiling coyly. "So you're finally helping me get out, then?"

"Your friends have a place to stay and need your help. What better time would there be for you to go to your friends than when they are already here, Sister?" Winter asked, her smile warming as she looked at Weiss. She placed her hand on her hip and pulled out the weapon she had hidden behind her own.

"Myrtenaster!" Weiss shouted, reaching out to grab the rapier filled with different Dust. She took the needle thin blade's handle in her right hand and twirled it a few times, accustoming herself to the weight her father had confiscated. "How did you manage to get it out of the mansion?"

"Please. I am an Atlesian Specialist, Sister. How could I fail to do so?" Winter asked, smiling smugly.

"Now you're even _sounding_ like Qrow," Neptune pointed out, freezing when Winter's icy, terrifying, rage filled glare landed suddenly on him. "Eep! Um..." he cleared his throat, trying to un-crack his voice. "Sorry. Sorry... Ma'am."

"That''s better," Winter said, enjoying the terror she had struck into the young man's Heart. She leaned in close after casting a glance at Weiss. "I take it no threats need to be made?"

"Nope!" Neptune responded, voice cracking terribly once again.

"Move," Qrow commanded suddenly, moving faster than the eye could see and sliding to a stop behind Winter. His sword was out, hand held against the flat to keep it despite the sudden shockwave of energy that had crashed into it. He grimaced and began to slide back inch by inch. "Damn it, Winter, I said move!"

The woman nodded and suddenly grabbed hold of her sister and Neptune, diving out of the way while Qrow angled his weapon and sent the energy rebounding straight up. The air around him exploded as it did and he was soon surrounded by a swirling circle of dust. He readied his weapon in front of him and stared towards the hole in the fog through which the black energy had come. "Ruby, get ready."

The girl in red nodded and ran up beside him. She swept her hand across her body and Crescent Rose appeared in her hand, its customary flash of red surprising the heiress. "What is _that_!?" she shouted while her older sister ran her out of the path of danger. She was unceremoniously dumped, along with Neptune, to the ground so Winter could draw her weapon.

"Later. Prepare for battle, Sister," Winter snapped, looking around and waiting for their attacker to reveal itself once more. She flicked a small switch on the weapon's handle and grabbed the secondary blade that shot out from the center of the main weapon. The Specialist looked towards Qrow. "That energy was the same kind present at Haven."

"Yeah. It is," Qrow responded, voice low and cautious. He looked around and shook his head. "I'll scout it out; be back in a few." He sheathed his weapon and ran into the darkness, his namesake appearing from the shadows and flying off a few seconds later. Everyone else looked at each other, worry in their eyes, and moved to stand in a circle so they could more easily see what they were facing.

"Um, what could possibly be attacking us right now?" Neptune muttered. The explosion of energy had caused the theater itself to go into lockdown, so the area was completely silent. He heard a rustling noise, and the street lamps around them suddenly flickered out. "Great. That's not... terrifying at all."

"Careful," Ruby warned as more and more lights slowly died out. She shifted her grip on her Keyblade and took a deep breath to prepare herself. Whatever was coming felt familiar, and the Keyblade thrummed with angry anticipation every time the lights died out and the creature came in closer. "This thing is Dark."

They were interrupted by a sudden shriek in the circle they had made. Every one of them spun around just in time to get a powerful pulse of Darkness right in the face. Ruby, however, was lucky: her Keyblade had been held out in front of her when she turned around, and the pulse bounced off of the Reflect wall the blade instinctively summoned to defend its master. Unluckily, she got to face the creature by herself for the moment.

It was roughly seven feet tall and almost completely black. It had four arms, two of which ended in claws and feathery wings, the other two in long red blades. Red and black samurai styled armor hung from its hips above its bird legs that ended in huge white talons, which added to the bird motif on its face. The creature's face was composed of a long, almost Grimm like mask to create the head of a bird with burning yellow eyes. At the center of its chest, ringed by feathers, was a huge, empty hole shaped like a Heart. Ruby gulped in fear, thinking back on the stories Sora had told her. "Heartless."

Ruby wasted no time remaining scared, however and lashed out with her Keyblade, the weapon moving faster than it ever had before. The edge of the weapon was swiftly blocked by the twin blades of the creature's lower hands, which angled to lock her weapon in place. Ruby yelped and dashed to the right, letting go of the Keyblade and narrowly dodging the clawed hands of the monster's hands. She skidded to a stop behind the creature and held her hand out, grinning when her weapon reappeared in her hand and she slashed at the monster's leg. It fell to one knee and hissed as the weapon of Light burned its flesh and it felt pain. The monster shrieked and spun even faster than Ruby could have responded as little as a couple months ago, the brunt of its wing getting ready to crash into her midsection. Lucky for Ruby, the Keyblade made her much faster, and she managed to duck beneath the wing and swing her Keyblade in a two handed strike at the monster's head.

That, unfortunately, is when the heel of her right high heel snapped clean off from the force she was putting behind the blow. "Yak!" she screamed as her weight suddenly shifted, her right foot sliding forward and making the attack overshoot the monster by a good foot. The creature brought both of its claws down as fists right into the young woman's midsection and she slammed into the ground with enough force to shatter the concrete.

The entire battle between the two incredibly fast combatants had taken little more than ten seconds.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted, standing up just in time to see the creature raise both of its blades above its head and prepare to skewer the young woman. Weiss growled and, on instinct, raised her right hand with two fingers raised at her side. Dozens of spinning glyphs appeared around the creature that had attacked them. It stopped what it was doing and looked around in surprise. Roaring, Weiss jabbed her blade forward, and the glyphs stopped spinning and began to glow incredibly bright. "Get away from my friend!"

Suddenly, from out of the glyphs, appeared hundreds of Beowolves made of pure ice. Ruby looked around, and all she could do was blink in surprise as the icy copies roared and rushed the black and red creature. Claws slammed into the icy Grimm as they approached, shattering them. Red blades cleaved others in the horde cleanly in two. But it was indeed a horde, and the creature could not guard itself in every direction for long. Icy fingers clawed at its face, a Beowolf biting at its neck as it hung from the bird monster's neck. A pair of them were holding back each of the creature's hands so another could maul its chest. "What's going – WHOA!" Ruby screamed as she was suddenly carted off by another Grimm. She watched the blue eyed monster examine her as it put her down beside its master before it turned around and galloped right at the Heartless. It looked like, for a moment, they would kill it.

Then another pulse of Darkness destroyed all of the icy facsimiles. "Um... best two out of three?" Ruby suggested as the creature began to advance on her and Weiss. It stopped a second later and turned its gaze into the clouds above. The feathers on its neck bristled angrily and it cooed before a black and red portal of Darkness appeared beneath it. Both creature and portal disappeared moments later.

"Ruby!" Qrow shouted as he landed in front of her a moment later, as if he had just fallen out of the sky. He panted heavily and black feathers began to drift lazily from above him. He picked up the young woman and hugged her tight. "You're okay, what was that thing?"

"That was... really cool," Neptune told Weiss while Ruby tried to shove her uncle away and get him to stop worrying about her. "How'd you do that?"

"It's the family semblance," Winter cut in before the blushing Weiss could respond. The younger woman shot her older sister an angry look that said she wanted to tell the boy herself. "Though even I have not managed manipulation on such a massive scale... I am... quite impressed with you, Sister."

Weiss grinned stupidly at the compliment from her over serious and difficult to please sister. "Well, I've been practicing a lot recently," she said, scratching her cheek and smiling.

"It shows," Winter said, a small but noticeable smile on her lips. She straightened and turned around when the sound of an explosion suddenly rang through the night air. The clouds above parted, replaced with the fiery bubble of light and smoke. "Oh, God no..."

"What's that building?" Qrow asked, putting Ruby down and turning to the Specialist. She didn't respond. "Winter! What's that building!?"

"The Military headquarters and Hospital. Where both the General and your niece currently reside, Qrow," the white haired woman suddenly responded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her Scroll, summoning a limo with a press of a button. "I am sorry, Sister, but your escape will have to wait."

"I'm going with you!" Weiss responded angrily, just at the same time as Ruby and Neptune shouted, "She's going with us!"

Winter and Qrow glared at the younger warriors for a while, tired of insubordination. Then they sighed in defeat as one and looked at each other. "Why did everything have to get crazy right now?" Qrow wondering, earning a weary nod of agreement from the Specialist. He shook his head and stared at the approaching headlights of the limo, heaving a heavy sigh as he did. "Hope your crazy father doesn't mind."


	25. Yellow

**AN: Heyyo. The Yang chapter! Woohoo! Hope you like it!**

 **To gamelover41592: Thank you very much! I hope that the funny keeps on going. Papa Scnhee will be... soon. He'll be getting a much bigger part in the next arc of the story, which is about the time Argent is going to be introduced in full.**

 **To goddragonking: I'm happy the direction is appreciated. I hope it keeps being great!**

 **To Gravenimage: Thanks! I hope they get better and better.**

 **To grimlock987: I don't have plans for Sora to get a metal arm at the moment, but I definitely understand the love for robotic prostheses. They're just inherently awesome, and it's hard to make them suck. Ed and Al... I love those characters, I believe that was the first anime I ever watched all the way through. DBZ is infinity long, and my dad was weird about Naruto when I was a kid. They won't be showing up in this story, though I am thinking about maybe doing a spinoff style story. Maybe they'd show up there if I decide to do it.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Yang's on her way right now. As for Sora, his... thing is a lot like the events in Aqua's bonus chapter in BBS, where Ven's and Terra's Keyblades save her.**

 **To The Shadow Man: Yeah, it would be possible, but I don't think I'm going to do it. Sora's old friends are gone, and how he gets over it is going to be important to how Jaune eventually gets his head screwed on right.**

 **To Guest: It won't be a summoning gem, but Sora is going to learn a lesson about not being sad about his friends soon. 26 and 27 are going to involve him figuring out a couple things and discovering why he keeps going on. But, yes, Sora's old friends are gone. They live on in him, though.**

 **To Kingofclubs8129: No, no plans for Namine and Roxas right now. I feel like Namine and Roxas are destined to wind up alive again as their own people so they aren't really part of Sora or Ruby like they were part of Sora and Kairi in KH2 onward.**

 _ **Chapter 25: Yellow**_

" _ **Scathing eyes ask that we be symmetrical, one sided, and easily processed. Yet every misshapen spark's unseen beauty is greater than its would be judgment..."**_

The Heartless made an angry clicking noise as it dodged the strike from the six, magically built Keyblade facsimiles that struck down at it one after the other. The creature was like a shadowy snake, spiraling through the area between each weapon to get closer to Sora and strike at him. When it finally got close enough, the young man raised Fenrir in front of him and stabbed the blade of Light through his opponent's palm. The Heartless immediately shrieked and retreated, the wound on its hand bubbling and smoking from the power of the Light.

Sora didn't give the heartless any time to breathe, however, and the six weapons powered by the glowing Wayfinder on his left hip shot after the creature like bullets from a gun. They crashed into the ground one after the other when the monster melted into the ground and drifted slowly to the right, leaving it open for an attack from Sora's weapon as it rematerialized. The creature hissed and summoned a wall of solid darkness to block the attack, the blade getting stuck halfway through and leaving Sora open to a blow to the chest from the monster. His hands slipped from Fenrir and he crashed into the ground, the keys forming a wall in front of him that blocked the destructive beam of Darkness coming towards him. It wasn't until the smoke cleared and the keys separated that he knew what he was faced with. "Xehanort's shadow?" Sora wondered aloud as he studied the creature. He wondered for a moment how that was possible, but he figured it out. "Salem."

He saw Fenrir still buried in the wall of Black Dust and one of the weapons floating above him floated suddenly into his hand – the one made of pure wind. Somehow, the weapon was solid at its center despite the fact it was only made of air, with a familiar weight to it that Sora appreciated. The young man grinned and ran towards the tireless monster. His weapon slashed up and bounced off of the creature's claws, a trail of flaming sparks rising into the sky from the sudden impact. Sora swept his other hand forward and the other five floating weapons glanced off of the creature's shoulder, sending it into a spin until it melted into the ground and retreated into the shadows. Sora brought the Keyblades down, spinning around him like a wall to defend himself with. He ran over to Fenrir and pulled it free, the wall falling apart as he did. He let go of the windblade in his off hand and it returned to the defensive wall.

Ozpin, meanwhile, had taken a few steps back and was standing stone still as the fight dragged on. He knew that this was a good sign, this summoning of Sora's oldest Lights back to the forefront of his Heart. Sora may not have been born on Remnant and, thus, likely had no real 'semblance.' However, he did have the rare and extraordinary ability to draw on the strength of those he cared about no matter how long it had been since he had seen them. What Sora was doing now was borne from the fragments of those Hearts that still resided within him eons after their passing. And it was a sign that Sora's connection to the Keyblade had taken a key step towards its fruition, a single step on a long path, but an important creation of momentum nonetheless. As much as Oz wanted to help that young man in his battle with the monster of pure Darkness, he knew to do so would only slow that growth or, worse, stifle it for the foreseeable future.

So Ozpin took a step back and took stock of their time. They had taken perhaps twenty minutes to get to the statue, another five retrieving the hidden locker. Sora had spent fifteen minutes looking at the various items within, during which time the creature had started its attack. The battle so far had taken up another fifteen minutes. Seeing as the full three hours they had been given by Glynda was clearly not truly going to be given, that gave them an hour. Maybe an hour and a half if they were lucky. This left him stuck in a difficult position: if Glynda returned with an army, that would lead to dozens of casualties. Which meant if this dragged on too long he would have to try to help the young man no matter that they both wanted the fight to continue without Ozpin's interference.

Sora growled to himself as he continued to wait for the Heartless of his one-time sworn enemy to attack him again. The ground beneath him began to buzz with the power of Darkness and Sora dove instinctively to the side, the magical keys shooting down at the portal of Darkness. The Heartless was greeted by each of the six weapons slashing through its flesh and pinning the creature's body to the ground. The Heartless struggled uselessly against its bonds and Sora was soon jumping out at it and trying to bury his weapon hilt deep in the creature's evil grin. The creature's claw tightened around the weapon pinning its left hand to the ground, the weapon made of pure stone. The key groaned under the pressure and shattered after a momentary shudder. Sora felt a claw slam into his side and he dragged through the cobblestone face firsta moment later, the light on Fenrir dying out as he did. "Ow," he groaned as he pushed himself to his feet as best he could and held the weapon out in front of him.

The Heartless was already upright, tearing the weapons from its body and advancing on Sora. The young man took a deep breath and felt his eyelids droop; the energy flowing from his Wayfinder fizzled and disappeared. The weapons that were still whole either disappeared or fell apart without the magic holding them together. The Light emanating from the weapon in his hand remained, however, the only sign that his old abilities had begun to return. It had to be enough to destroy this creature, or he wouldn't survive.

Unless of course he was saved by someone else. Which, given his immense level of luck, he was.

A beam of red energy flew through the air and collided with the creature's head, leaving a smoking hole in its skull. The Heartless turned slightly to look at its attacker and was greeted by another red blast of energy colliding with its body. The monster flipped through the air and crashed into the ground, rolling to a stop a few steps away from where it had stood. Sora followed the beam of energy to its source and gulped when he saw a figure dressed in a familiar black coat – not unlike the one Sora himself was currently wearing. It raised one gloved hand and fired another blast of red energy, the Heartless folding itself around it and hissing. It melted into the ground, a shadow, and it quickly disappeared into a newly formed portal of Darkness. The black coated figure lowered its hand and cast a glare at the retreating circle of Grimm. "Scared of true Darkness," the figure noted before its hand flew up to its chest and he fell to his knees. His hood fell off to reveal a broken but familiar face.

The figure had one burning yellow eye, the other pure white and sightless. The left side of the being's face was drooping and broken, while the right side of his tanned visage was young and smooth. A white mane of hair dangled down his back and shoulder on the right side, while the left looked burned and melted into his scalp. Sora could only assume that the rest of the Nobody's body was the same. Sora walked over to his savior and lowered his glowing blade to the being's neck. "What should I call you this time? Xemnas, Xehanort, Ansem?" the young man asked while Ozpin walked up to stand beside him.

The figure brought its good eye up to meet Sora's. "Whatever it is that you want. After all, who I am is not important, Sora. Only my message is," the Nobody explained coolly. It grimaced in pain and tried to stand up, only to stumble forward again. Ozpin caught the figure and steadied him. The Nobody looked up and nodded gratefully at the man.

Sora's gaze softened as he watched the broken shell falling apart in front of him. Fenrir fell to his side and he took a breath to calm himself. "What are you doing here?"

"Is this any way to treat the one who saved your life?" the Nobody asked dryly. It sighed after a moment. "I may have no Heart, but I retain the will of Xehanort. Vengeance especially." Fenrir and its glowing blade rose again. "No, not you. I – He didn't want that. At the end, before he became... that, he hoped I would find you before I was destroyed completely. I barely succeeded. What I do here will likely be the last thing I do at all."

"Why do you want me, Nobody?" Sora asked, furrowing his brow and trying to figure out what the broken Nobody could possibly want..

The Nobody looked over at Ozpin. "I wish to help you reclaim what you are, Sora."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby finished strapping her boots up just as they neared the Atlesian Military Headquarters. Winter had let Ruby, the only one who had difficulty fighting in her current dress, use the limo's changing machine. Winter was very proud of the machine, and said that she had used it dozens of times when she had to change on the way to a fight. Aside from the fact that it had laced up her corset way too tight and that she had to put her boots on by herself, it was an awesome machine. Ruby kicked the door open again and her Keyblade appeared in her hand – for once because she had summoned it.

The Headquarters was surrounded by rubble from far above, having fallen due to the explosions that still rattled the building far above. Ruby looked up when another explosion rang out above her and raised her Keyblade above her head, summoning a huge wall of Light that protected both her and her incoming allies from the rubble that resulted. "What kind of Dust did you use for that?" Weiss asked when the rubble bounced with _ding_ s off of the Reflega wall.

Ruby looked over her shoulder at her partner and grinned. "Magic!" she said, remembering when she had this same conversation with Sora so long ago.

"There's no such thing as magic, Du -" she was cut off by a hand on her shoulder. Weiss looked up to the source to see Winter's no nonsense face giving her a look that showed yes, magic is real. "You're kidding."

"No, kidding is my department," Qrow said just before the wall fell and he ran ahead with Ruby.

"He's right," Neptune told Weiss before shrugging and following them. "Don't worry, Snow Angel, I had trouble with it too at first."

"And you... like this boy?" Winter asked simply.

"You're one to talk," Weiss retorted, running after her partner and Neptune. Winter let a scowl grace her features for a few moments before she smiled and followed her younger sister.

"The main elevator will likely be deactivated as a result of the attack," Winter explained as she sprinted past Ruby and Qrow. She slid to a stop and pointed at the wall. "Qrow, if you would be so kind as to break through this wall so we may continue."

The Huntsman raised an eyebrow but pushed himself in front of Winter anyways. He raised his greatsword over his shoulder and prepared to smash it through the wall. "Wait!" Winter snapped just before the weapon slammed into the wall. She looked around and cleared her throat, turning around to point at the other side of the hallway. "Um, this... this wall."

Qrow glared at the woman for a moment before rolling his eyes and swinging the weapon over himself and crushing a hole into the wall. Rubble bounced off of the stairway that was revealed and Neptune groaned. "We're gonna have to walk up like... forty three flights of stairs to get there!" he shouted angrily.

"Well, _you_ ," Ruby said, walking forward and standing at the center. She waved with a silly grin and shot upward in a torpedo of flowers. Winter shrugged before she summoned glyph after glyph and was soon bouncing from wall to wall almost as quickly as Ruby was.

Qrow smirked and looked down at Weiss and Neptune. "He's your dead weight," Qrow told the young heiress. He shrugged and disappeared to be replaced with a small crow. The bird cawed and began to flap its way up through the building.

Weiss stared after the man and clenched her fists. "Dead weight!?" she snapped, summoning a huge glyph beneath their feet.

"Um, Weiss, are you sure that this is a good _IDEAAAAAA!"_ he screamed when the glyph suddenly shot them straight up and past all of those that had been with them. Ruby watched with wide eyes when Weiss and a screaming Neptune flew past her and up, up, up past even the floor on which they were supposed to stop.

"Silly Weiss. This isn't a race," Ruby said when she bounded onto the target landing. She laughed and pointed at herself. "But if it was, I would win!" Her Keyblade reappeared in her hand she smashed through the wall to the medical area. She couldn't wait on the others to start saving her sister, so she dashed through the opening and readied herself for battle.

Standing at the end of the entry room, slashing a long blade against a thick metal barrier that led further into the operating rooms, was a tall woman. She bright red hair with pitch black high lights that reached to base of her back. She wore black armored bracers and pauldrons over a red mini dress. Thigh high black boots and a pattern of bloody feathers hanging from her belt made her look very familiar. There was no scabbard at her side for the weapon she wielded. The woman stopped after slashing one more time against the wall, allowing Ruby a clean look at the blade. It was a very long, very strong looking Katana. The cross guard was built in the shape of a stylized cross going into a an upside down and incomplete Heart at the bottom. The blade of the weapon was deep black on the edge that created an ombre into silver at the back. The hilt was wide enough for a two handed attack, though it was not heavy enough to prevent one handed use as Ruby could clearly see.

The figure turned around and revealed a black and white mask that covered her entire face, not unlike one that graced the skulls of Grimm. Behind the two eye holes of the mask were blood red eyes that remained icy despite their fiery color. "Uh... I'm going to honest, I was expecting a huge, scary bird monster. With four arms," Ruby said while she stared at the intruder. There was no response from the woman, simply her head cocking slightly to the side. "Wh-what are you doing here? Why do you want the Gener -"

"I'm here for the girl," the intruder responded hoarsely, her voice a gravelly monotone. "She needs to die."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Here for – " Ruby narrowed her eyes and raised her Keyblade beside her head, tip pointed at her enemy. "I won't let you touch my sister!" She roared and appeared next to the woman, slashing her weapon horizontally at the woman's legs. The katana rang loudly when the weapons collided. She flicked her wrist and Ruby stumbled forward. The young woman lashed out with her foot and used the wall to flip over. She shot a blast of Sparks at the katana wielding intruder before landing lightly and rushing at the intruder again.

The intruder simply sidestepped each of the Sparks and slashed out with an impossibly fast sword attack. The black weapon left an afterimage, it moved so fast. The Keyblade and katana collided, singing once again, and the two began to trade blow after blow faster than anyone else could manage. "You're fast," Ruby said as their blades locked against one another. Ruby began to slide back from the force of the woman's attack. "Er, and strong. Great."

"But she's also alone," Qrow said, his weapon over his head as he soared towards the intruder. The woman turned her eyes towards him behind her mask and spun, kicking Ruby up and towards Qrow. The man quickly sheathed his weapon before he cut his niece in half and caught her, the two of them hitting the wall with enough force to leave cracks up the surface. Qrow groaned and dropped Ruby, the two of them hitting the floor on their feet. "Not that it matters apparently."

"No. No it doesn't," the woman responded, twirling her weapon until its tip was pointed directly at the two caped warriors. She shot forward, ready to impale the two and claim her victory. She was only stopped when she rebounded off of a huge, floating glyph. Weiss and Winter ran in, followed by Neptune firing his gun at their soaring opponent. The woman's sword slapped each attack away and was soon followed by a razor thin blade of Darkness that created a wall of black flames her opponents could not penetrate. "Given time, I would lose. But once I do what I came here to do, I will be able to kill each of you with little issue." The intruder turned to the barrier and readied her weapon. It became surrounded by an aura of black flames, and she stabbed forward. The weapon became buried in the attack and the Darkness began to spread through the wall like cracks. Moments later, it exploded and the woman walked through the gaping hole.

"Yang!" Ruby screamed desperately. She threw herself against the wall of flames and bounced off of it, screaming out in pain. Qrow caught her and glared at the wall, thinking the same things as her.

There was a loud explosion and the intruder flew out of the hole in the wall, crashing into the ground. Footsteps followed her and a blonde woman with a wild grin followed, her hands smoking at her sides. She exited the broken wall and slammed her fists against one another, causing sparks to fly out to float around her head. "Did I hear you threatening my sister? That is a bad move, Lady," Yang Xiao Long said, advancing on the woman. Her hair began to burn and rise like fire, her eyes turning a burning shade of red. "A seriously _bad_ move."

The intruder stood up slowly and readied her blade in front of her. "I never actually threatened them. I only desire to kill you," the woman responded coolly. She jumped forward and slashed at Yang's head for a death blow, an attack that was easily blocked by Yang's new arm.

The arm was a combination of the bright yellow making up Yang's hair and a deep black that made it look like the prosthetic hand was really just a bulky glove. The machinery in the hand whirred and the top knuckles of the middle and ring fingers peeled back to reveal twin barrels of a shotgun. "Click click," Yang said before slamming her fist towards the woman's face. There was a resounding _BOOM_ as a ball of flames shot from the robotic fist.

The intruder was far too close to manage a dodge, and for the second time a blow from the young woman's fist sent her flying. The intruder flipped herself to her feet midair and landed without a single noise. Her mask was smoking, a burn in the center that looked as if it were spreading. "That's twice I've slammed you down," Yang said, cocking her arms back and ejecting a pair of red shells that clattered against the ground. "Seems to me that I should know your name before you strike out and die."

"Morrigan," the intruder responded after a momentary pause. She stood up and swung her blade out to her side. She bowed lightly and angled the tip of her weapon at the young woman once again. "I am not doing this to satisfy bloodlust. I must become stronger to become whole."

"Yeah, good luck with that one, Crazy," Yang said, hair still on fire and eyes bright red. "You know, you pack quite the punch behind that sword. Good." Yang ran forward and brought her left fist down in a haymaker. Morrigan sidestepped the attack, only to be surprised when the gun of the weapon fired and the younger woman's elbow slammed into her mask, shattering it from the intense strength of the blow. Yang grinned and spun around to see the woman covering her own face with her free hand. "Where's the woman who was going toe to toe with Qrow, his Ice Queen, and my sister all at once? This is just disappointing."

Morrigan's red eyes flared. "You want the woman who can kill all your allies?" she asked, her voice containing a hint of anger.

"Oh, did I touch a nerve?" Yang mocked, a grin crossing her face. "And I thought I was fiery. Ha! Get it?"

Morrigan stood up straight and let her left hand fall, and with it fell Yang's mocking grin. "That's not..." Yang whispered, taking a step back. She was deeply confused and terrified, her hair and eyes returning to their normal coloring. "No. No way. No. You can't be -"

Yang Xiao Long was being forced to stare at the visage of her dead mother, red eyes and over serious face the same as the one she had thought she'd never see again. Yang shook her head and forced a smile. "Okay, fine."

"Fine?" Morrigan asked, confused.

"You look like Mom. I had some issues to work out anyways," Yang said, getting back into a fighting stance. She fired an explosive ball of energy at the woman and followed it, trading blows with the woman who looked like her mother. Each of Yang's attacks was sidestepped by the swordswoman while Yang used her Semblance to absorb the force of those she blocked with her own weapons. "And you're stealing the look of a dead woman, so one more reason to lay the smack down." Yang lashed out with her foot and the woman's leg slid back, leaving her open to an uppercut from Yang.

That was when the woman revealed her other skills. A wall of energy appeared where Yang's fist was heading so that the blow connected instead with a wall of glowing hexagons. "No. I am not stealing anyone's 'look,'" Morrigan explained, her voice a monotone again. She kicked the younger woman to the ground and brought the tip of her blade down to Yang's throat. "I did not think killing you would be this difficult. I thought I would not care. I am the evolution of Raven Xiao Long, I was created when she lost her weakness. It seems some of it still remains."

"What?" Yang asked. She laughed and shook her head. "As if, Crazy."

"I just thought you should know," Morrigan said. She shrugged and raised her sword and grabbed it with both hands. "It seemed the human thing to say, but what would I know. I'm just a Nobody."

Her attempt to kill Yang, however, was stopped when Yang raised her new prosthesis in front of her and smiled. "Boom." All the knuckles on the fist opened up to reveal shotgun barrels and a single, impossibly loud explosion of fire slammed into Morrigan's head. She flipped head over heels and was greeted by a pair of winged claws grabbing hold of her.

"Yang, that thing attacked us!" Ruby shouted from beyond the fire. Yang didn't quite hear her, as she was busy staring at a monstrous, bird like creature with four arms. Morrigan was struggling against the creature's grasp, her sword gone, and slamming a fire covered fist into its face. The monster shrieked and grabbed Morrigan by the ankle, swinging her violently around before throwing her through unceremoniously the wall and out into the cloudy sky of Atlas.

The creature lumbered after her, but stopped at the edge of the building for a moment to cast a glance at the young woman behind it. Its yellow eyes seemed to turn a bright red for a moment as it cocked its head to the side and cooed quietly. It's quiet look belied the intense struggle that was evident from the creature's shaking; it wanted to attack, to kill everyone present, but something within it was holding it back. The creature hissed and leaped from the building, disappearing into the night. Yang breathed heavily and barely noticed as her sister crashed into her shoulders and began to ask if she was okay. It didn't make any sense, but... but she felt like that monster thing was her mom.

"Is the fight over, then?" a man's voice asked as he walked into the waiting room. Everyone looked over to see a portly old man in a lab coat and Atlesian military dress enter. He had a long, gray beard and a completely shaved scalp. Standing beside him was General Ironwood, whose right arm was sparking slightly, its wiring exposed. The man sighed and walked up to Yang, grabbing her new hand and shaking his head. "I told you to wait a few days to use it. You've exacerbated the damage at the nerve connection points and reopened the Aura channel. It will take two hours at least to fix this, not to mention the week of rest you should already be taking!"

"It can wait a moment, Doctor Polendina," Ironwood cut in coolly. He groaned and lifted his arm to keep it from dragging down on his body. "You can help her when everyone who needs it has medical help. And we cannot get that here, not anymore."

Ruby's, Weiss', and Yang's eyes exchanged glances, but it was ignored. "Quite right," the man agreed, taking his coat off and tearing it in two with a concerted effort. He wrapped it around Ironwood's shoulder to hold his prosthetic arm up before bending down and offering Yang his hand. The old doctor smiled kindly down at her with his eyes shut. Ruby thought his smile looked a lot like Penny's. "Let me help you."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora crossed his arms and glared at the Nobody, feeling both pity and hate as he stared at the deformed face of the man who had been trying to kill him for years. The Nobody's one good eye turned to him and blinked lazily. Just like most new Nobodies, there was nothing in him. "You want to help me summon my Keyblade?" Sora asked distrustfully. He laughed and shook his head. "I don't know what game you're playing, Xemnas, but I'm not falling for it."

"Give him a chance, Mister Nomura. He did aid us against a Heartless, after all," Ozpin said calmly. He placed his hand on Sora's shoulder, his own face also communicating distrust. "And if he is lying, I will destroy him myself."

Xemnas laughed and shook his head. "I'm sure," he said, though his Heart wasn't in it. Well, if he had one it wouldn't be. "What I did to the Heartless took all the energy that I still had; I am not sure I could even mount a defense against the two of you." Even as he said this, a patch of his pure white hair separated from his scalp and fell to the ground. "I despise wasting time and effort, so I would like to impart what I can to help you." Another patch of hair fell out and Xemnas' face grew annoyed. "Sooner would be better than later."

"Fine," Sora assented. He uncrossed his arms and clenched his fists at his side, inches away from drawing Fenrir once again, just in case he needed to fight. "What do you want to tell me?"

"Sora, you must swear to listen to what I have to say. I do not have the time to fight with you on this," the Nobody explained tiredly. He closed his good eye and he took a long, slow breath. "Promise me."

Sora nodded and said, "Fine." He wanted this to be over so he could get back to trying to claim his new Keyblade and return to saving the world.

Xemnas nodded and opened his eye. "Good. Then you should know that what the two of you are trying in order to summon Sora's Keyblade will not help in the slightest." The Nobody groaned and slowly pushed himself to his feet, his bones audibly creaking within his body from even this small act. He was right: he was not long for this world. He raised his hand and summoned a flickering flame of Darkness, and Sora grabbed Fenrir. Xemnas let it go a moment later and shook his head. He explained, "Apologies, I mean no harm. I merely meant to show you what you need to be a true master."

"Darkness!" Sora snapped in disbelief. Xemnas let his head fall and he shook his head. "I'd never become a Dark Keyblade Ma -"

"You promised to listen!" the Nobody snapped, a fraction of his old personality shining through in the impatience. He looked over at Ozpin, who had remained silent despite what the Nobody had said. "You were never able to defeat her without the aid of your greatest student, and even that was pyrrhic."

Ozpin sighed and nodded. "Continue."

"But -" Sora began to protest.

Ozpin brought his hand up to silence the young man. His voice firmer this time, he once more told Xemnas, "Continue." Sora huffed and crossed his arms, resigning himself to the fact he had to listen to one of his greatest enemies chastise him for being weak. And it _wasn't_ meant as an insult this time.

Xemnas bowed his head in thanks to Ozpin and returned his attention to Sora. "Your Heart is one of the strongest I have ever found in any World. But you are weakening it every day that you do not touch your Darkness, that you do not look upon it."

"Because it makes people evil," Sora retorted, gesturing with one hand at the Nobody. "It made _you_."

"It did. But I am not imploring you to _use_ Darkness, young man," the Nobody responded in his same monotone. "Though that would be ideal, I am merely suggesting you should stop denying it. You are not like the Princess, a being of pure Light. You are not perfect, and running from the fact that this part of you exists only blinds you from who you truly are."

Sora's eyes widened and he brought his fists up, shaking them emphatically. "I'm not running from anything, Xemnas!" he shouted angrily.

"Yes, you are," Xemnas responded quietly. The Nobody sneered and pointed at Sora. "Because you are afraid of becoming that creature again. You know you cannot control your Darkness right now, so you ignore it as a child would. Like a coward would."

"Shut up!" Sora snapped again. He shoved the Nobody and turned around. "I don't have to listen to lies like this."

"He's not wrong." Sora turned to glare at Ozpin with betrayal in his eyes. The gray haired warrior sighed and leaned against his cane. "He is not wrong. You are afraid, I have seen it ever since I have started to train you. Every movement contains hesitation, because you worry that everything you do will tap into your Darkness."

Sora wanted to argue the point, but he found he couldn't. He was afraid. He had never been particularly good at controlling his Darkness, and had instead just locked it away. And all that work had been for nothing when Salem just unlocked those doors and it had all flooded out in a murderous rampage aimed at his own friends. Were those walls still down and was that... _thing_ still ready to leap out at a moment's notice? "Then what do we do?" he asked, for the first time ready to listen to whatever it was the Nobody had to say.

Ozpin smiled almost imperceptibly. It was good that Sora was willing to listen; it showed he was growing. Xemnas broke the silence a moment later: "Ideally, you would allow me to impart my knowledge about the use of Darkness, but you are not ready to accept it and I do not have the time to change your mind. Instead, all I can give you is the knowledge you are running from yourself. And knowledge about who Salem is." Xemnas looked down at his bad hand and grimaced. "It's happening. I'm fading." He looked back up at Sora and sighed. "She is the most powerful proponent of Darkness that has ever lived, with a desire to refashion Kingdom Hearts and deliver it wholly into the hands of Darkness. She wants to see what a world devoid of Light could be."

"How does she use Light then?" Sora asked.

"It is the only thing that can cast shadows, young man. You must never let her have the book, Sora. It contains all she needs to cast the greatest shadows back into this World, something to which even her two Heartless and those others they have created can compare," Xemnas responded, his form already growing see through while Nothingness swirled around him. The Nobody looked up at the sky and frowned. "I wonder what will become of me when you destroy my Heartless."

"Wait! You said there were two Heartless!" Sora shouted. He ran forward and tried to grab the dying Nobody's shoulders to anchor him. Sora stumbled through the man instead. He turned around. "Where is it?"

Xemnas looked down at the young man. "Heartless hunt those with Keyblades jealously. The Princess will need your help before long." And then he disappeared in a sphere of Darkness, and Xehanort's chances at a return were no more.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby stared intently – and probably looked more than a bit creepy as she did – at the man working on Yang's prosthetic arm, studying his face and pondering whether she should even begin to ask questions about her friend. On the one hand, he would probably be happy to meet someone who was close with his daughter. On the other he probably didn't want to be reminded about her death. But! But maybe he wanted to know more about who his daughter had been becoming. And, while Ruby didn't really want to admit it, she hoped that he was doing something, anything, to try and find a way to fix his daughter. It didn't seem fair that Ruby was finding her friends again but she still couldn't find a way to help Penny. Qrow, who was sitting in the corner talking with Winter and General Ironwood, had told her it was a bad idea. So had Weiss, who was sitting beside Ruby waiting for Yang to get all fixed up.

"How is that?" Doctor Polendina asked Yang. He took a screwdriver out of her prosthetic and looked up at her expectantly. "Is that good?"

Yang looked up and began to flex her new fingers. She bit her cheek and frowned. "Nah, it still feels loose, like it's not responding fast enough."

"I see," the Doctor mumbled as he reinserted the screwdriver and began to tighten it again.

"YOW!" Yang shrieked suddenly, pulling her arm away from the rotund doctor. Her hand was spasming wildly and her face was contorted with pain. "Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! Too tight! Too tight!"

The Doctor grabbed her by the shoulder with his left hand and yanked it down so he could access the screwdriver still stuck in his patient's arm. "No, you have to stay still," he commanded with enough firmness to even get Yang to listen. Her hand continued to spasm, but she resisted the urge to fidget from the pain that came with each overdone movement of her fingers. He turned the screwdriver counterclockwise twice and the spasms stopped. He removed the tool and let go of Yang's shoulder. "Now, is that better?"

Yang clenched and unclenched her hand before a grin graced her features. "Just right," she asserted happily. She stood up and clenched both her fists before launching into a series of punches. "Oh yeah, I'm ready to kick some serious butt! What do you think, Ruby?"

Ruby didn't respond, her thoughts instead having turned to wondering why a Heartless – a being of Darkness obsessed with killing Keyblade Wielders whenever they could – would save her and Yang from a dangerous swordsman who looked and fought like Raven Xiao Long. When she had tried to call Sora to ask about it, the call hadn't gone through. She'd called Nora and the Berserker had told her that Sora was still out at Beacon. "Ruby!"

"The answer is fourteen Ursai!" she shouted, her go to shout for when she was called on in Port's class. It usually worked for her there.

"Ruby, I said 'I'm ready to kick some serious butt! What do you think, Ruby?'" Yang told her sister. She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at her younger sister. "Don't tell me I'm as boring as Professor Port, Sis!"

"No. No... yes," Ruby joked. She scratched the back of her head nervously. "Yeah, you'll be great! You were amazing against that crazy Morrigan lady!"

"I think she was going easy on me. She took out Qrow, Weiss, her crazy sister, Neptune, and you with your brand new Keyblade. I'm good, but I'm not _that_ good yet." Yang blushed and shrugged humbly, though Ruby could see she was absolutely dying to talk about how awesome she is. Ruby raised her hands as if to say go ahead, and her older sister smiled. She laughed, saying, "Ah, you're right. I might be the best. Ever. At anything. Ever. No, not might. I _am_. Fists of fury coming in hot, right?"

"Your sister is quite the interesting young woman," Doctor Polendina told Ruby as Yang continued to compliment herself. "Very... lively."

"Crazy is the word I would use," Weiss cut in.

"Crazy fun," Ruby finished for her partner. She grimaced. "But yes, also crazy."

"I've never seen anyone take to a prosthesis as quickly as her. She must be very strong willed," the doctor noted. He looked over at Ruby. "Forgive me, but you are the young woman who saved Haven, correct? Where is the young man you traveled with?"

"Vale. He's looking for something important," Ruby responded. She looked at her feet for a moment, then back up at the doctor. This would either go very well or very badly. Time to find out which! "Doctor Polendina, are you Penny's father?"

The entire room grew incredibly quiet, and the doctor's smile became forced. Even Qrow and Winter were staring nervously over at the young woman and the doctor. "You knew Penny?" Ironwood asked. He walked across the operating room with hands clasped behind his back and glared down at Ruby. Ruby gulped nervously before nodding. Ironwood narrowed his eyes and moved to speak. Ruby was saved, however, by the sudden ringing of Ruby's Scroll.

"Oh, thank God," she muttered when she saw Sora's name on the screen. She was already out the door when she said, "Gotta take this bye!" She sped down the halls and slid to a stop in a vacant room just in time to answer her Scroll and bring it to her hear. "Sora! Did you find the book?!"

"Ruby, good! I was worried – eh, never mind. Yeah, I have the book now. I had to fight a Heartless to get it," Sora explained, his voice full of relief that Ruby was okay.

"You too?!" Ruby shouted in disbelief.

"You're sure?" Sora's voice had lost the relief and regained its terror. "He wasn't lying..."

"Who?" Ruby asked, grabbing her Scroll with one hand and pulling it around to her other ear. It was her turn to get worried about Sora.

"I'll tell you in a bit. What happened?"

"Uh, it attacked us outside of where we met up with Weiss. She's good by the way. Can't wait for you to meet her! Anyways, it was maybe seven feet tall with an empty Heart carved out of its chest. Four arms, two had wings two had swords instead of hands. Big scary bird face. Reddish armor on its hips and shoulders," Ruby explained, her voice changing from excited to almost clinical as she described it. "And then... some woman who looked just like Aunt Raven showed up and tried to kill Yang! And then the Heartless attacked the woman and they disappeared. It was a really weird and eventful night."

"What? Um... a weapon, did she have a weapon? The woman? What did it look like?" Sora asked anxiously.

"Katana, had a weird, thorny symbol on it. Black and silver," Ruby detailed. She nodded. "You sound scared."

"The woman was a Nobody. When a person becomes a Heartless, if their Heart is strong enough they leave their body behind to become a person who should never have existed. The Nobody has their memories and personality and, sometimes, their desires. Most don't have any emotions, though. They just have this desire to be whole, whatever that meant to the person they used to be." Sora took a shuddering breath. "Ruby, I'm sorry. But the Nobody is Raven's."

Ruby groaned and her shoulders fell. "Qrow said she always wanted to be strong. She ran away because she thought Yang made her weak." Ruby shook her head in sad acceptance. What was she going to tell Yang? "But why did the Heartless help us? You said they just want to kill things."

"Kind of. But not always. If a connection is strong enough and Light enough, it can... I don't know, keep someone's Heart alive in the Darkness. It happened to me once with... my old friends," Sora said, fighting off his sadness. He made a noise that almost sounded like a shrug. "I'd guess that the Nobody is trying to kill those feelings by killing Yang, but Raven's Heart is holding onto it as tight as it can. But this is good."

"How?!" Ruby asked, confused by how Yang's mom trying to kill her could possibly mean anything good for anybody.

"If you kill the Heartless _and_ Nobody of someone, they come back." Ruby grinned wider than she thought she could; Yang and their dad were going to be _so_ happy! Sora laughed with her a moment later, happy for some good news himself. "Raven's not dead, she's waiting to be put back together again."

"This is great," Ruby said, biting her cheek to hide her tears of joy. "Anything else happen to you?"

"Heh. I had my own Nobody problems. Turns out my Heartless was Xehanort, and so was the Nobody," Sora explained wearily. He groaned. "And just when I thought I was done with him."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Adam Taurus was standing among his lieutenants, both trusted and otherwise, vainly trying to come up with a plan of attack for the Atlesian capital. His alliance with Cinder and her human faction had already damaged his standing, but the devastating loss at the hands of that black haired human had completely tarnished his credibility with the White Fang. Adam was far too close to losing all of his power that remained. "No. Vacuo has nothing to offer. An attack on Atlas would allow us to plunder their newest technologies and prepare for the real war," Adam growled, removing his mask for a moment to rub the bridge of his nose. If he said go right, his new enemies in the group said go left, even if a bomb was to the left screaming out its countdown.

"And Vacuo has the highest percentage of Faunus in any Kingdom. We should recruit there before being so bold," one of his opponents responded, her lips curled up in a smirk.

"The Vacuoni Faunus have refused, time and again, to join us. Vacuo is kinder than most Kingdoms, even if they support our oppression. We are terrorists to them."

"Then we force them to help us. After long enough, they will see the truth of our message and help us anyways," the woman retorted.

Adam fought off the urge to decapitate her right then and there. It would be bad for morale, after all, if he resorted to something like that. Still, it would be quite the show. Her blood flying everywhere, head rolling uselessly across the ground. He smiled thinking about it. "What do you find so funny?"

"Your absolute idiocy," Adam responded dryly. "We represent victory and justice for the Faunus cause. If we kidnap and conscript our own kind, we will become villains for any who would want to join us. If you had half a brain, you would know that." He pointed at the woman. "You would destroy this organization just to disagree with me." He readied himself to continue his castigation of the woman, but stopped when he heard something. A moment later, the sounds of a struggle erupted outside of their tent and Adam shook his head. He held up his hand as his most trusted liuetenant reached for his chainsaw. "We have familiar guests." Adam turned and exited the tent.

Standing over the unconscious, or perhaps dead, bodies of the White Fang HQ guards were three cocky looking figures. Cinder was dressed the same as when they had last spoken, aside from the yellow jacket she was wearing over her dress. Her apprentices had not changed anything, except that they did not look nearly as happy to be around her. "Cinder. Company. It has not been nearly long enough."

"Look, I'm not interested in whatever petty reason you hate me now. I'm human, you lost your arm, your girlfriend is still running around with humans. It doesn't really matter to me," Cinder said, eyes and voice bored. "Honestly, I have things that I would rather be doing as well. Getting you to help me is not what I want be doing. It's boring. Dull. He could have done it, it fits his personality after all."

"Enough. What do you want?" Adam asked even while the lieutenants exited the tent. Those opposed to his agenda drew their weapons. He thought about letting them attack and get murdered, but decided against it. "You would only bloody their weapons." The Fang lieutenants dropped their weapons hesitantly. To Cinder once more: "What do you want?"

"I have to go through with all this?" Cinder grunted. She shook her head and groaned. "Fine. Fine. Revenge. We killed the woman who did _that_ to you, so not on her. But you could always kill her daughter, brother, husband, and... husband's daughter. Everyone she knew. And then I'm sure you could go after your girlfriend to kill her, hm? Yes or no, I don't have the time to debate this, okay. Three. Two. One -"

"Fine. Let's go," Adam said, taking a step forward. He looked back at his lieutenants, especially the more vocal woman. "We will not be attacking Vacuo. You will wait for me or I will kill every one of you who I deem unworthy of my attention. Traitors have no place in our movement."

He turned back to Cinder. "Should we continue to stand here, or are we in a hurry?" he inquired, earning a dry laugh from his 'business partner.'

"And here I was worried I would have to convince you. It seems your moronic underlings did that for me," Cinder noted. She groaned gratefully and held her hands out. "Let's get going then."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sun was smiling contentedly as he curled up in the corner of the Faunus bar and ate his banana split. His shirt was open and rolled up; despite his friends insistence that Vale was about to get very cold, it was still pretty hot. At least he had places like this to cool off in while Ozpin and Sora hunted for a book the month before or Ren and Nora did... whatever pretty much all the time. Besides, Faunus in the underground tended to know where to find each other. If he met the right lowlife, he could maybe track down a black haired cat Faunus. Sun groaned and slammed his forehead into the table. She was a former member of a terrorist group that not even the governments of every Kingdom were able to track down. He was screwed.

"Look, you're obviously not asking about the book anymore are you?" a woman asked. Sun looked up, a tiny bit confused by the familiarity he felt when he heard it. He craned his neck, trying to get a view of the person in the next booth. His spoon scooped up some ice cream and he sloppily put it in his mouth, barely even paying attention to it. Sun let his spoon drop into the bowl again and silently jumped over to the other side of the booth. "Cause I'm flattered, but..."

"No! No, I... love... books?" the man at her table suggested. Sun scoffed and curled around the corner, feeling bad f saw a book on the corner of the table, a lynx Faunus' clawed hand on the book's top. He smiled at the girl in the booth and shrugged. "I um... was wondering... can I read it and then talk to you about it?"

"That still sounds suspiciously like a date," the lady responded in a monotone. Sun could basically hear her sarcastically raised eyebrows at that point. There was a sigh from the girl, who – at this point – Sun could see was a blonde. He was slightly disappointed, but kept turning the corner anyways as if compelled to. His eyes widened upon seeing the girl's yellow eyes and black cat ears. "I've got a..."

"Blake!" Sun shouted, cutting the woman off. He laughed excitedly and scrabbled over the back of the booth, landing with an unceremonious thud on his face. He propped his head up on his hand and bent his knee so his right foot was flat against the booth. He grinned charmingly and waggled his eyebrows. "Hey there gorgeous. Long time no see."

Blake Belladonna just stared dumbfounded, her eyes shifting between the Lynx Faunus and Sun. She took a few shallow breaths and she opened her mouth to speak. "I... I... I have to run," she mumbled, jumping out of the booth and sprinting out of the door. Sun watched her go, his smile slowly turning to a frown.

He looked back down at the table and then back up at the other Faunus. "Well, she left you the book," he pointed out, earning an angry snarl from the other Faunus. Sun sighed and rolled out of the booth and to his feet. "Welp, better follow her." He patted the other Faunus on the back. "Better luck next time." He reached into his pocket and tossed a Lien card onto his table before sprinting out after Blake.

Sun slid to a stop and shivered just outside. The warm day had turned cold. "Dammit," he growled, looking around and buttoning his shirt up. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, the young man growled to himself and realized she'd ditched him. Sun groaned and kicked the street; he'd lost her again. Sun sighed and began to walk back to the apartments, hoping the others might help him track her down better. Ozpin would probably have some ideas. He didn't notice the woman hanging from a black grappling hook on the wall of the building, beyond the lights. Blake Belladonna shook her head and began to climb up the building.

"Sorry, Sun. I can't go back empty handed." She stared down at Sun for a while and fought off her desire to follow the monkey Faunus. She sighed eventually and began to slowly climb her way to the top of the building, jumping onto the roof. She sighed and looked out over the city, annoyed she had to start over. As soon as anyone higher up said they had met a cat Faunus named Blake, Adam would find out and try to hunt her down. If she wanted to be of help, she'd have to change her disguise and reingratiate herself with the White Fang members in Vale again. Still, Blake was never one to whine. "I'm not going back empty handed."

Then she felt a dull thud in the back of her head and everything went black.


	26. Black

**AN: Hi-Diddily-Ho, Neighborinos!**

 **Sorry this has taken so long. I've been busy dealing with the first week of my college term, moving back in and the system not registering any of my classes and the like. It's been a fuster cluck. Before that I was enjoying my last month or so with my family.** ** _Not_** **a fuster. And finally, I just wanted to think out this chapter and the next one's specifics a little bit better. So don't worry, I definitely haven't forgotten this story. However, updates are going to be slower from now on for a while as I get back into my groove here.**

 **Responses!**

 **To gamelover41592: Thanks, I really loved having Yang back too! As for why Morrigan isn't named some anagram of Raven with an X in it, that was more Xemnas' thing because of Xehanort's x-blade fascination. I chose the name I did because the Morrigan is this goddess of death who takes the form of a Raven and I liked that connection.**

 **To CraZramblinGhost: Thank you so much. As I said in that chapter, I was kind of scared to make such a huge change with killing off the old KH cast, but I really wanted to go a different route from the other stories I've read. I really like those other stories, where Sora's friends get to meet the Remnant crew. I guess the best explanation would be that those are KH and RWBY crossovers and this one is more of a RWBY and KH crossover thematically. What you said is the best praise I've gotten so far. Brightening anyone's day is exactly what I want to do.**

 **To warrior of six blades: I'm happy you like my personalization of Raven's Nobody; the entire time so far I'd had Raven reconnecting, so I felt like her Nobody would be more like who she used to be. And Ruby is... well, she and Sora both have a bad habit of being clueless despite having so much empathy.**

 **To Wlyman2009: Maybe. Darkness in KH seems to be like fire – it's the carelessness that burns someone. That said there does seem to be a certain temptation that comes with it.**

 **To Guest: It's not going to be quite that intimate for Sora's inner Darkness, but he'll accept it a bit more.**

 **To Kingofclubs8129: Oh, but then how would I be cruel?**

 **To Anonymous: Yeah, I know I haven't given Oz a lot to do for himself as of yet. He does come off as a bit naggy, and I'll try to fix that. But from RWBY, it does seem like his method of teaching mostly revolves around pretty much just giving Team RWBY as much leeway as possible and seeing how it turns out. But I do get where you're coming from, I'll try to address it. I don't want to overdo it with him, though; he's the main actor of the pre Keyblade War sections and I don't want to risk it becoming his story. But he does know what Sora is going through, having lost everyone he cared about in much the same way. I'm sorry though, I'll try to make Ozpin less annoying.**

 **To Guest(B): I'll be glad to try and answer. Honestly I've been trying to come up with a good response or explanation for Ciel's statement. The best I've been able to come up with so far is that I feel like Ironwood would want to keep an eye out for Qrow's family – him being, well, Qrow – especially since she keeps getting involved in things no student should get involved in. I feel like Ironwood would put one of his best with Penny and warn her he thinks of Qrow as... questionable. Ruby's guilty by association.**

 **To SeekerOfDarkN: Thanks! Don't worry, I'm continuing. Just, like I said, slower than before. I hope to weave them together even better than I have so far.**

 _ **Chapter 26: Black**_

" _ **Your hopes have become my burden... I will find my own liberation."**_

"What is it?" Sora asked as he stared at the sword and bladed sheathe that had been buried in the center of the door to the Faunus bar, a white piece of paper rolled up and tied to the long piece of black ribbon trailing from the end of the blade. The weapon had a gun in its crossguard and a handle on its sheathe for dual wielding attacks. Sun had led them there, his eyes wide and terrified by the presence of the blade.

Sora received two answers in return for his question. "Gambol Shroud, Blake's weapon. She'd never leave it like this," Sun responded worriedly.

"It is a threat. The enemy has Miss Belladonna," Ozpin stated almost simultaneously, bringing attention to what Sun had been too worried to say outright. The man walked forward with heavy set eyes and, despite the wind whipping the ribbon and that which it held around wildly, he had no trouble quickly grabbing on to the paper and untying it. He unrolled the message and read through the information upon it with increasingly cold and angry eyes. After he finished, he held the note out behind him. "Mister Wukong, Mister Nomura, this is for the both of you." Sun and Sora glanced at each other and walked forward. Sun grabbed the note and he and Sora began to read it nervously to themselves.

"Red's friends, teacher, and boy toy -" Sora frowned at that second use of the nickname 'boy toy' for him.

"I think that I found your pet kitty a few nights ago when I was on a walk. She seemed lost, climbing buildings and mewling to herself about how terrible the world was. I felt so bad, I just had to take her home and tell you. Unfortunately, she would have been a bit of a bother to move without some form of encouragement, so she's currently nursing a rather painful headache. Oh, and I just _hate_ hurting animals. Well, it had to be done.

"So, how are things? I can't wait to find out. As for me, I've been living the good life ever since you arrested Junior – Twice! I have to say, that might be the best bribe I've ever paid, getting those council idiots to get rid of him. And they chose you! Oh, Roman would have just loved the irony there, it was the kind of thing he lived for. You know, tricking idiot kids into doing things. And he really would have loved this irony especially.

"Oh! Oops, well you should excuse me. I'm sorry, but your stray is acting up and I haven't even fed it yet! I'm so forgetful sometimes. Anyways, if you want your pet back come meet me at the dance club – another gift you kids got me after taking out Junior! Come soon; I'm not exactly known for being a patient woman.

"Sincerely, Neopolitan."

"Why does she keep calling Blake a cat?" Sora asked simply, one eyebrow raised. "That... it almost makes it impossible to understand. She's not a cat – what is.. is it just to be mean? Weird? I don't get it."

"Ah, yes. You do not know... Well, it's her secret. She should keep it or release it as she sees fit," Ozpin said quietly, shifting on the pillar that was his cane. "Her secret belongs only to her."

"We have to go get her," Sun said, changing the topic of conversation and crumpling up the paper in his hand, his fists quivering with rage as he stood there. Sora understood his rage and was of a mind with the Faunus. He may never have met Blake, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let anyone hurt any of Ruby's friends... but still, he didn't want to rush angrily into something. Xemnas' words suddenly began to hang heavy in Sora's mind – if he didn't charge in head first and guns blazing, was he just being cautious or was he simply running from even the chance that he'd face his Darkness?

Thankfully for him, Ozpin broke the quiet and angry silence. "I wish we had time to plan, though we are not left much of a choice in this," the old warrior said. His grip on the cane tightened and he slid it out to his side; he was not looking back at the younger warriors that were with him, instead reaching up with his left hand to grab the sword buried in the door. The muscles in his off hand tensed for a moment and the blade snapped out of the wood, the ribbon flapping wildly as a result of the sudden change in momentum. He turned around and let a small smile replace his angry glare. "We _will_ save her, Mister Wukong, I swear it. Besides, compared to the creatures and monsters you have fought on your journeys thus far, a simple criminal – while still dangerous – should be a nice change of pace, yes?"

Sun was in no mood for even a hint of joy, however. He dashed forward and took Gambol Shroud from Ozpin's hand and looped it around his back. "If we're going, let's get going now," he said coolly, spinning on his heel and walking away from his friends. "That club's not close."

"Indeed," Ozpin agreed from where he stood. He watched the young Faunus go and nodded in approval of Sun's cool desire. It was not anger that was driving him onward, though it was abundantly clear to even the most oblivious person – read, Sora – the young man was very angry. No, what was driving him forward was a much quieter thing that made Ozpin sure Sora and Ruby were beginning to have a tremendous effect on those around them: Hope.

Ozpin looked down at Sora as Ren and Nora nodded to each other and began to follow the Faunus. Before Sora could follow, Ozpin noticed that the young man was sorely lacking in his own hope and stopped the young man with a hand on his shoulder. Sora turned his head back and looked up at Ozpin. "Sora, when I first arrived here, I felt much the same as you. I lost all those who had been closest to me and I believed that trying to enjoy what I found on Remnant was somehow betraying their memory. As if by moving forward I would be trying to forget them."

"I'm not afraid I'm trying to forget them, Ozpin," Sora muttered hollowly. He uncomfortably brushed the man's hand off of his shoulder and walked after the others at a jog so he could catch up.

Ozpin shook his head at this poorly hidden lie. He had always understood Skye better than any of his other students, which made sense given how much longer they had known one another and how much they had been similar back then. And now Oz saw more and more of Skye in Sora every day. As Oz's first student had once said, "You shouldn't cry when you lose someone. That's not the right way to remember a friend."

Ozpin shook off his appreciation of the young man's Heart and lifted his cane, moving at a measured walk yet still somehow fast enough to keep pace with the young warriors who had broken into a sprint far in front of him. He often forgot just how much impatience affected those who had not lived a long life, and just as often it slipped his mind that he himself had become prone to reverie even in the most dangerous and pressing circumstances some time around his third century. It had taken a concerted effort to bend that habit, but he still had yet to truly break it.

Ozpin silently followed the children – _warriors,_ he corrected himself. All may have seemed children to him, but these children had long since passed that barrier through their experiences. No children could survive Salem or the Darkness as they had, even with Hearts of purest Light. He wished they could have stayed as they were, as he had far too often seen children forced to become weapons in war. But it had been their fate to become more through those worst tribulations. A sad destiny for ones so undeserving of it. And whatever joy they could possibly gain would only come through even more tremendous trials, if it even came at all. But that did not matter at the moment. All that mattered now was the saving of the young woman.

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _Twelve Years Before the First Keyblade War_

Ozpin stood in the viewing room for sparring, watching as a grinning Skye stood across from his friend and rival, Mark, at the center of a large white circle. The white haired young man's face was his usual serious glare, but there was something slightly different in his stance. He was the strongest of the five other young men and women that Oz, Skye, and Salem had rescued from slavery and experimentation, and it was incredibly clear he did not like losing. Even to someone who had been training in battle for years longer than him such as Skye.

Ozpin watched while the spiky haired youth in his black coat – the material of which Salem had long since taught Ozpin to create – said something to his friend and hefted his wooden training blade atop his shoulder. Mark gave Skye absolutely no response, and the brunette young man just laughed loud enough for even Ozpin to hear, to say nothing for his other apprentices who were outside with the two of them. To them it must have been almost unbearably loud, if it were not for the infectious nature of the laughter. Oz himself was struggling to hold back his mirth.

Then the fight began. Overall, Mark was the quicker of the two fighters when it came to attacks, lashing out with strikes fast enough that almost any warrior would find themselves on the wrong end of his blade in only a few short moments. He also had an incredibly fluid form of fighting, launching into quick and powerful counterattacks that used the force of his opponent against them. Skye was not quite as fast, nor was his form of fighting as fluid. In fact, one could say that Skye should have been outclassed by his rival, defeated in a few minutes at most. Yet, despite his incredible disadvantage, he defeated Mark time and again, and definitely not because Mark was not trying. No, the young man was incredibly angry whenever he lost a fight. Somehow, Skye overcame the obstacle in his path by meeting it head on. He was both the unstoppable force _and_ the immovable object.

"Oz! Oz, I've done it!" Ozpin turned his attention from the fight just as Skye slammed his training weapon into Mark's gut and earned his victory. Oz sighed and shook his head as the woman clad in her usual colorful, painfully bright robes ran his way. Salem had been claiming she had 'made' a magnificent discovery for months now, and she had yet to produce any actual evidence she was close to anything. This was, in fact, the fifth time she had stated she had 'done it' in the past month, and he was sure it would result exactly like the others – with absolutely nothing to show for it.

"Wha? Why are you giving me your skeptical look, Oz? I really have done it this time!" Salem attested – third time in the past month she'd used that one. "I've made a weapon – no a _tool_ – just like the **χ** -blade -"

"'Unbreakable. Capable of destroying Heartless with ease, channeling the magic I discovered, unlocking any door, and being summoned from any corner of the world by a mere thought?' You've said that..." he stopped and counted up on his fingers for a moment. "Ah, every time you've come to see me for six and a half months and you have absolutely nothing to show for it. Tell me, is this the same or do you actually have something?"

Salem looked at her old friend, aghast he would suggest such a thing. "You... Why you... I am insulted. _Insulted_!" she said, mock pain running through her voice while she raised her hand to her chest. She shook her head and covered her eyes as if crying. "Oh, the intense pain in my Heart! I cannot – I _will_ not – take this from you, Good Sir!" She held her right hand out to Ozpin and a flash of green light erupted in her hand, replacing the air with a weapon altogether alien to the man with her.

The most odd thing about the weapon was its shape, as it held the general appearance of an old key, with teeth and a basket forming the rounded grip. The sides of the basket were formed from a pair of gnashing scorpion claws. The outer shell of the claw was green, a color that continued into the arm of the creature. The inner claw was gray, not unlike the color of Ozpin's hair. The claws met at the bottom of a gray handle wrapped in deep black cloth beneath Salem's closed, pale fingers. There was a huge, blue eye in the center of the weapon's crossguard, the iris a thin black slit, and glowed from within the center of the scorpion's head. It did not blink, it merely stared pitilessly but also fairly upon the world. The body of the creature was gray, and slowly turned into the emerald green as the tail that made up the weapon's blade extended and curled so that the poisonous tip became the teeth. Dangling from the pommel was a chain ending with a charm shaped just like the weapon itself.

Ozpin let out a slow breath while staring down at the blade edge held at his throat. Finally: "Okay. You win; that's impressive as hell. You made a..."

"Keyblade," Salem finished for Ozpin.

" **χ** -blade? I guess I see a small resemblance, but -"

"No," Salem cut him off, letting the tip of the weapon hit the wooden floor of the room. A deep thud rang out between the two. " _ **Key**_ blade. Not **_χ_** -blade. Like the thing that opens doors."

Ozpin shrugged, acknowledging the similarities the weapon held to the household item. "Well, take it. This one's yours; it's my favorite so far," Salem said. The light flashed in her hand again and the weapon was held backhand. She held the handle out to her friend and smiled. "For my favorite person."

Oz blushed and laughed nervously. "Th-thank you, Salem," he muttered quietly. He reached out with his left hand and gripped the weapon firmly. The woman let go of it and Ozpin was immediately struck by how light the weapon was. It should have been a monstrous weight if it truly was unbreakable, and yet Ozpin noticed he had almost no trouble in holding it. He raised his arm straight out in front of him and held it that way for a few minutes. "It's... weightless."

"Not quite. It's perfectly weighted. You're just too strong to notice," Salem complimented.

"Flatterer," Ozpin muttered.

"Usually, yes. But not right now," Salem explained with a smirk. She gestured at the weapon. "Another unexpected boon of the Keyblades – you're faster, stronger, and more agile than you've ever been. And all for the low low price of free."

"What's it made of?" Ozpin inquired suddenly as he twirled the weapon around himself, trying to get used to its odd lack of weight.

"Ah, that would be revealing my secrets! Don't look a gift horse in the mouth Oz, especially when the gifts are not all given, yet," Salem chastised with a coy grin. She wrapped her arm around Ozpin's shoulders and placed him between her and the Keyblade. "Now, I've got six more. The ugly one is for the thief. It's all black and shadowy like someone who breaks into places."

"Salem..." Ozpin castigated as she led him out of the building so he could call his apprentices to join them. Though, if the weapons were as powerful as Salem suggested, perhaps giving them to people who were still so young would be a dangerous proposition. Better to wait, he supposed. "At this point, I'm sure you alone are the cause of all the enmity that exists between the two of you. Skye could not hate anyone unless they were truly evil." Ozpin's voice lowered to a whisper. "And even then, he's too good for it."

"Your soft spot for that boy will get you killed one day. Or worse – me," Salem retorted dryly.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sun was the first to run up to the club's doors, Gambol Shroud still slung over his shoulders and his own weapon in staff form in his right hand. Sora was panting slightly as he tried to keep up with his friend, instead lagging behind with Ren and Nora who did not have the same fire in their movements as did the Faunus. Beside them, almost hovering across the ground in the swift fluidity of his walking gait, was Ozpin. Finally, Sora and the others caught up and slid to a stop at the base of the door. Sora took a long, heaving breath and stated up at the ever more purple sky. "Whew," he breathed, again missing the Keyblade. He looked down when a loud, dull thud echoed in front of him.

"Open, dammit!" Sun snapped, slamming his staff into the door over and over again. He moved with a wild and angry fervor that was rarely seen in the world, the movements of a man fighting for something beyond his own life, something for which he was willing to go through that most painful of trials that existed in Remnant's dark world – to live. His staff slammed into the door again before he let go and began to slam his fists against the door in a desperate cry for it to open, to receive him so he could save the woman trapped within.

Sora walked up beside him and his desire for the Keyblade's return ran through his mind again. With it, opening the door would have been a simple and quick matter, using its ability to unlock and open any gateway. Or he could have just beat the doors down with a torrent of intense magical power. Either-or he supposed. "We can't get in through the doors?" Sora asked as he walked up to stand beside the Faunus. He shoved the door with Sun for good measure but soon realized it was a fruitless effort. He grabbed Sun's arm as the Faunus readied to slam into the door again, then the former Keyblade Wielder shook his head. "We need to look for another path..." He looked around analytically and ran around the side of the building, calling back a moment later there was a loud clang that echoed from where he had gone.

The Faunus looked up hopefully and sprinted after Sora, followed soon by Ren, Nora, and Ozpin at his back. They rounded the corner to see Sora disconnecting Fenrir's metallic rope from the rung of a fire escape ladder. He looked up at the others and grinned suddenly. "You guys think this will be good for getting in?"

"She'll know we're coming from up there," Ren pointed out as he drew StormFlower.

"Let her," Sun said as he clapped Sora on the back. The Faunus smiled for the first time since finding Blake's weapon and nodded around at his friends. "She won't know what hit her." He turned around and jumped excitedly onto the ladder, looping around and around it whooping happily, as if challenging the gangster within the club to prepare for them and their onslaught in the name of a friend. Sora smiled at the careless movements of his friend before following, the second to climb the ladder. He was halfway up the flight when he heard a familiar ding come from just beneath his feet.

"Oh, come on!" he shouted as he let go of the ladder and landed on the invisible wall of energy. He looked up and he and Sun caught each others gazes. Sora shook his head and looked down at Ozpin who hung just below him, followed by Ren and then Nora. "No way through?"

Ozpin sighed and shook his head. "No, I am afraid not," he grunted. He glanced down and motioned for Nora and Ren to descend, then back up at Sora. "It seems we must part ways, Mister Nomura. These walls are... dangerous. Whatever it is that lies in there should be treated with caution beyond what we expected. But you will pull through, of this I have no doubt." Sora and Ozpin smiled at one another, then went their separate ways.

Ozpin stood with his two former students, waiting for his current student to return victorious. Something black crashed into a trash can in the alleyway across from them and Ozpin froze with worry. He slowly pulled out his Scroll and lifted the device to his ear. "S'Qrow," a voice yawned gruffly as soon as the call connected. "Speak up or hang up, it's... God, it's three in the morning? Oz, what the hell?"

"I wanted to ask you something, Qrow. Sora said you saw the Heartless. Yes?" the Headmaster inquired clinically, ignoring his friend's annoyed growling. His eyes had lost the shadowy creature, and that only worried him more.

Qrow sighed on the other side of the line. "You know, at times I miss when you let yourself get captured by a crazy witch. I got to sleep in until six in the morning sometimes," the Huntsman grumbled half heartedly. There was a pause and the rustling of sheets. "Yeah. Yeah I saw it, why?"

"Keep me apprised of any disappearances in Atlas. Where one exists it is inevitable that more will be born," Ozpin explained, leering after th shape rustling in the darkness beyond the reach of the club's dying neon; he had been lucky to find it again.

"That'll be hard. Faunus here already disappear in droves to join the Fang. But okay, Oz. It'll be easy in between trying to both set up a meeting with Papa Schnee while hiding his two most... _okay_ daughters from him," the man responded, voice sharp with sarcasm.

"Yes... indeed..." Ozpin responded, his eyes still following the darting shadow. He opened his mouth and shut it quickly before setting his jaw. "Qrow, I will have to call you back. We are about to be attacked and this requires my full attention."

"We're what?" Nora asked, grenade launcher already drawn and at the ready as she began to search for whatever threat it was that her former Headmaster had seen in the shadows that she had not.

"Full – Oz, what could possibly require your full -" the line was cut off when the former Headmaster pocketed his Scroll and lashed out with his cane, disappearing and reappearing with a trail of green behind him. The metal weapon whistled as it danced through the air and collided between two gleaming yellow eyes.

The creature shrieked in rage, a bone chilling noise of Darkness that still caused a shiver of pain and rage to crawl down Ozpin's spine even after a thousand battles with it. "On your guard!" Ozpin shouted with a glance over his shoulder, but he was too late. Corridors of Darkness had erupted into being around Ren and Nora, pillars of inky blackness that swallowed up all the light surrounding it and giving off a harsh chill. From within soon burst forth a collection of evil creatures, each exactly like the being whose face was currently giving way to Ozpin's cane. Tall, powerful, and lithe, the monsters form was made up of pure darkness, black and in the general shape of a human. Blue lines like jagged lightning arced across its skin and up its massive, drooping anntenae sprouting from the back of its head. Two evil, yellow orbs glowed in the center of its skull. Neoshadows.

Ozpin growled in worry and kicked off of the Heartless he had attacked, sending it flying away to collide with the stone and steel of a building while he dashed towards his two allies, moving so fast that he was among them before Ren and Nora could do anything. His cane moved like the tip of a whip, the air cracking with small but echoing sonic booms every time it moved to deflect the raking claws of another Heartless that moved to attack him or those he protected. He batted one of the seven monsters – including the now recovered first of the creatures he had attacked earlier – away and into its brother who was spinning towards them. The two disappeared in puffs of black smoke upon collision, destroyed by the accumulation of damage given to them by Ozpin. He rolled beneath the outstretched claw of another and buried his cane to the handle in the Heartless' head. He turned to the five remaining Heartless when the one he had just killed disappeared completely. He was about to turn around, feeling the hair on the back of his neck begin to stand up, when a bolt of lightning crashed into the Neoshadow creeping up behind him. He glanced over at Nora, her hammer raised above her and glowing with yellow electricity.

He had no time to thank her, however, as black corridors of shadow suddenly erupted around the three of them. Ozpin brought his students back to back with him, forming a defensive triangle from which they could more easily guard against their enemies. "Are these Heartless?" Ren asked, aiming down his weapons' sights and readying to defend. "I saw something similar in Jaune's Heart."

"Yes. Be careful," Ozpin warned, voice curt and hollow as he shut off his fear. It was only a matter of time until they began to attack once more.

His worries were confirmed almost immediately, with one of the creatures jumping out of the portal to his right and attacking Ren's left shoulder. Ozpin wanted to defend his student, but was quickly faced with an onslaught of his own – two jumping at him from the front and his left while another went for Nora. Oz raised his cane and slapped one of the Heartless into the other, their heads colliding with the quiet noise of Dark on Dark. Ozpin spun around with cane parallel to his body and a green trail of light shadowing his movements, and buried the blade through both Neoshadows' connected heads. "Focus on the one that's about to attack us," Ozpin demanded before running forward, portals of Darkness appearing where his feet had been moments before, a black claw reaching out for him but only hitting the trail of light behind him instead. Ren and Nora watched him for a moment before narrowly dodging the sudden attack that swept down at them from the sky.

"Ak!" Nora shouted as she whipped her hammer around, catching a barely glancing blow against the Heartless. It spun with the blow and slashed its claws at Ren's head. He caught the attack with the blades of his weapons and fired a stream of Dust bullets into its head, each laced with confusion magic. The Neoshadow hissed and stumbled backwards in confusion, flailing wildly and trying to come to its senses again. Then Nora's hammer flattened it to the ground.

The last one came out of the ground and raised its arms, portals of Darkness appearing around it and claws of new Heartless beginning to pull themselves out. Until Ozpin's cane was suddenly shoved through the top of its head and ran through its entire body. The man stood up as the portals around him slowly disappeared, taking the Heartless within away as well, then looked over at the door to the club which still glittered with a magical barrier that hid everything that could be going on within. "This is not good," the ancient warrior muttered angrily, his knuckles turning white around his weapon's handle. He hoped Sora and Sun were safe.

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _Ten Years before the First Keyblade War_

Fire. The flames burned more hot than anything Ozpin had ever experienced and threatened to burn him completely away with its intensity. The smoke filled the air and burned him within as well, his lungs screaming out for air as they were attacked by the thick gray smog. The light was blinding, so much so that he was sure he could have seen better in pure darkness. There was a cacophony of noises, screams of death and pain alongside the crackling of wood exploding and crumbling under its own child's heat.

He, terrified, summon Libidious Sting to try and calm the flames with his magic. Ice shot from the weapon's tip to do away with the heat, to save someone. Pages from books fell from above him, ribbons of flames that twirled into nonexistence around him and kept his Blizzaga from doing anything useful. He gave the weapon a swing and it crashed into the embers and swept them aside; he couldn't use Aero magic to get rid of them for fear of being bathed in a tornado of flames himself. He covered his mouth and nose with one black sleeved arm and coughed violently as he came to understand nothing could be done. The Library of the Scholars was going to burn. He looked around again and saw burning yellow eyes and arching black claws begin to reach for him.

That was when he, of course, woke up. "Yagh!" he screamed, thrashing around beneath his sheets, cold sweat running down his entire body and making them stick with every movement to his flesh. When he finally calmed down, he looked over to his left to see the annoyed, almost glowing red eyes glaring at him.

"Bad dream?" Salem asked dryly, one white eyebrow raised to communicate her lack of amusement. "You've fought creatures of pure Darkness, and a few little bad dreams can scare you? Ozpin..."

"Why do you only say my name when you're mocking me?" Ozpin grumbled, leaning back onto the bed again and covering his eyes with his hand. He was dodging the question, of course, especially since these nightmares had been going on for three or so days. He didn't want to worry her about it, stubborn as he was.

"Why do you make it so easy to mock you?" the woman inquired simply. She sighed and placed her arm over Ozpin's chest. "Oh, don't worry, I'll keep the big bad monsters of your dreams away you big baby." Ozpin just growled. "Oh, you know you love me."

"Do I?" Ozpin countered. He sighed as well and grabbed her wrist with his left hand, letting his other one drift down to grab the handle of his Keyblade. He had yet to allow any of his students to use theirs – save for Skye. The young man had been adamant that he did not want to be treated differently than the others; odd seeing as he _was_ different. Ozpin could not put his finger on why, but he could not completely trust the others. Call it an irrational fear – Skye liked to – but the five he loved like children he just could not trust. He hated himself for it, especially since he could ignore the one that hit sometimes when he was with Salem. To be fair, he felt as if that was just because his few prior relationships had ended... poorly. He smirked and rolled her into a tight embrace. He buried his face in her neck and kissed lightly. "Fine. Fine, you're right. Despite the mocking, I do love you."

Salem made a laughing moan and patted Ozpin's messy gray head. "Go back to sleep," she commanded. A hint of sadness crept into her voice, but it was gone so quickly that Ozpin was sure he had imagined hearing it: "There'll be plenty of time tomorrow to freak out about your dreams."

"Yes, all the time in the world to complain about my bad dreams and have you make fun of me for it, calling me little baby Ozpin," the man replied mirthfully. He shook his head and nuzzled into the woman's shoulder. He closed his eyes and sighed contentedly as he prepared to drift into sleep again with his shield from his nightmares.

Alas, it was not meant to be. "Boss! Boss!"

Ozpin and Salem both groaned and turned around to glare at the small, cat like creature they had created from pure Light. "Chirithy, what the hell is it?" Ozpin growled, a hint of murder in his voice. His goal had been to create a creature that could help him fight Heartless, and instead he got a silly messenger. Not that he would complain – save in this instance; Chirithy was a clever, funny, and kind creature through whom could be passed messages to the Chirithy of his students and, thus, to the humans themselves.

"Sorry, but Jorden says you've gotta come. The Library of the Scholars is on fire," the Chirithy said. Ozpin's scowl disappeared and ice ran down his spine, summoning images of his dream to mind once again.

"Let's get going," Ozpin muttered, grabbing his Keyblade and using its magic to summon clothes around his form – a skill he had learned from his time with the weapon.

"Easy there!" Salem shouted as he jumped from the bed clad in his black coat and boots. She pulled the sheets back down to cover her body. "Not all of us can get dressed with magic, you know."

Ozpin blushed and motioned for Chirithy to leave. "We're right behind you," he told the creature. It shrugged before back flipping and disappearing into a puff of smoke. Ozpin shook his head and exited out onto the balcony so he could wait for her to follow. He was immediately greeted by the effects of the fire: a pillar of smoke arched through the night sky from where the huge, castle like structure stood, casting an even greater darkness onto the town by covering the light of Kingdom Hearts above. Ozpin placed his Keyblade on the banister of the balcony and gripped the wooden beam tight. This felt far too familiar to the man, though he knew such a thing was impossible.

A few moments later, Salem rushed out in her less billowy outfit – still clad in her usual bright colors. "Oz, let's – God..." She had caught sight of the consequences as well, the flames starting to rise far enough to be seen among the pillar of smoke and casting demon shapes within the smoke itself. "Th-that's..."

Ozpin threw his Keyblade out in front of them, focusing his mind to create a birlliant flash of emerald light around its form. Within the glow, the Keyblade did something that had, at first, surprised Salem to no end – it transformed its shape completely and even changed its main function to suit its wielder's needs. Instead of a sword in front of them was a floating vehicle, a scorpion's body and tail making up the seats of the bike while its claws came together in the front to form the front propulsion unit. The legs of the scorpion formed a series of smaller propulsion units along the bottom that pointed towards the back. They all shined with a light that gave of a gray and green tint. Ozpin drew his hand back and the floating bike drifted back to settle parallel to the balcony for easier access. "Oh, I hate this thing," Salem groaned even as she followed Ozpin onto the bike. He just smirked and gunned the engines, both to terrify Salem and to get where they were going as quickly as possible.

When he arrived, Skye was busy trying to coordinate efforts with the others to protect the people rushing to see what was going on – ever since discovering magic, the town had come to rely greatly on Ozpin and his students for aid in crisis. "Oz!" Skye called after catching sight of the descending hovercycle. He waved one hand above his head and the Keyblade wielder hovered over to him. "You got Jorden's message, then. Good. We need that weapon of yours ready."

"People have seen them?" Ozpin asked.

"Half a dozen people say they saw monsters with yellow eyes starting the fire. Which explains why the fire isn't spreading at all" Skye confirmed. He grunted and shoved back a large man trying to get closer, then gestured over his shoulder. "All of 'em say the fifteenth floor is where the fire started. But if how they've been following you since you got that thing are any indication, we won't have to wait long no matter where we head in."

"I'll watch his back," Salem asserted. Ozpin thought about telling her she should stay away from the fire, seeing as she had not made a Keyblade for herself and as such was not superhumanly durable. He ultimately decided against that since she would just find her way in regardless of what he wanted. Skye on the other hand he could keep safe.

"I feel so admired," the Keyblade Wielder forced between his teeth. He nodded down at Skye. "I need you out here to make sure everything stays calm. Keep everyone out while we'll look for survivors and Heartless." Skye looked like he wanted to protest for a moment, then sighed and nodded dutifully. He saluted halfheartedly before he returned his attention to the people trying to get past him for a look or to search for their loved ones. Ozpin blinked once and angled the cycle to fly up towards the fifteenth floor.

When he got there, he pulled up his hood and leaned in close to the cycle's handlebars. "Hold on tight," he told Salem. He felt her grip around his midsection tighten and he gunned the engines again, flying through the window and meeting the roaring flames head on with a sphere of Reflect magic that surrounded him and Salem. The cycle disappeared a moment later, replaced by the Keyblade, and the two tumbled through the air before landing lightly down a hallway. Ozpin pushed himself to his feet first and covered his mouth with his sleeve. "We should head for the central library; Heartless would herd people together if they could."

Salem nodded and grabbed onto Ozpin's free arm. "Let's hurry," she agreed. Ozpin smiled at her from beneath his hood and took off down the hallway, moving faster carrying Salem than she ever could alone. It only took him a few seconds to sprint down the length of the building and explode into the main library.

He was greeted by the same image he had just seen only a half hour before at most. He shot a Blizzaga out in front of him despite knowing in his Heart that doing so was useless, and the ice exploded against the burning ribbons of paper. Oz slashed with his blade in front of him, trying to fight off the panic that just kept rising in his chest. Next would come the – "OZ!" He turned around and everything immediately went cold.

The Heartless were huge, armored things each with a shield as tall as it was adorned with a growling demon's face. The demon's maw was filled with glimmering embers of Fire. The free hand of the Heartless was as long as its body and rested against the floor like a third leg. "Get behind me," Ozpin said as he raised his Keyblade defensively in front of him with one hand, pushing Salem behind him with his other. He coughed beneath his hood as the smoke filled his lungs and squinted as it burned at his eyes. That was when the creatures attacked, the three of them all lashing forward to fire burning orbs of magic at Ozpin and Salem.

Oz slashed out horizontally, the Keyblade catching the three orbs and knocking them back. The movement caught the flames around the two, however, and he stumbled backwards from the sudden draft of heat. Salem went with him, yelping as they suddenly pushed up against the railing of the massive room. It creaked under their combined weight until Oz frantically pulled her forward and back towards the advancing Heartless. "Dammit, dammit, dammit," Ozpin growled as the shields locked up together. Ozpin raised his Keyblade above his head and an explosion of lightning crashed around them, crashing into the Heartless and stunning them. Oz grabbed onto the woman beside him and jumped over the armored Heartless.

As he was over them, a sudden tug came from above and Ozpin shouted out in surprise. He hit the ground and tumbled through the flames. Alone. He looked up with wide, angry eyes, at the things that had taken Salem. He called them Novashadows – more powerful than the already powerful Neoshadow Heartless that showed up occasionally now. There were about five in all, their claws gripped around Salem's shoulders. Oz jumped to his feet. "Salem, no!" he shouted. He ran towards her and jumped, summoning his Keyblade back to his hands so he could swing down from his right shoulder at the pool of Darkness and save her. He was thrown off course by a shield crashing into his midsection and throwing him away. It buried him in the wall.

"Oz! Oz hel -" Ozpin looked up when Salem's voice cut out and he saw the Novashadows drag her through the portal to feast on her Heart.

"SALEM!" Ozpin roared. He raised his weapon, now glowing with a blade of Light, and ran towards the armored Heartless. He sliced through the shield that came towards him and easily bisected the Heartless behind it before turning wild eyes on another. He tossed the Keyblade in front of him, bathed in ice and Light, and the second of the creatures exploded from the force. For the last he simply destroyed the balcony beneath it and it plummeted towards the ground far below. He looked up at the fading portal and jumped towards it. "Salem! Salem, I'll -" His face slammed into the ceiling and he fell to the ground. He pushed himself up to his knees and stared up at the spot where she had been a moment before. His head fell to his chest. "Salem..."

He walked out maybe an hour later, the fires dying down, replaced by intense magical ice that would melt away in a day or so. "Oz where's..." Skye quieted down when he saw Ozpin's downcast eyes.

Ozpin had known this was going to happen. He realized that now. He had seen not himself being taken by Heartless, but Salem. He had seen the fire, the destruction, and finally her death. He looked down at the Keyblade in his hand as it dawned on him – the dreams had started when he'd received it. He had opened the door to the future, which made sense. It was just another door the Keyblade could unlock. "It's time you all learn how to use the Keyblades," Ozpin growled as he stomped past his student. If he'd made that decision earlier, maybe he could have saved her. If he'd brought Skye in maybe he could have saved her.

It didn't matter. The Heartless were too bold now and something had to be done. It was time to be Huntsmen, not guardians.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora looked over at Sun as they stood above the skylight of Junior's – wait, Neo's Club. "Just get her down, get her weapon to her, and then we can take Neo out together. She's got Darkness, so we'll need all of us."

"You got it," Sun said. He stood up and took a breath. He looked over at Sora and smiled anxiously. "So... how's my hair."

Sora scoffed and shook his head. "Fine," he assured before slamming Fenrir into the glass. Sun jumped in first and bounced from lights to speakers until he hit the ground. Sora followed, not quite as agilely as the Faunus, and was soon rolling to his feet. The former Keyblade wielder looked around and threw his hands up in challenge. He was confident he could win if he was careful. Well, that and if he knew where his enemy was. "We're here!"

A spotlight came on to reveal a young woman dangling from the ceiling. "Blake!" Sun shouted, already running towards her. Neopolitan didn't try to stop him, which worried Sora. Nothing else happened as the Faunus approached the woman.

"Sun, what the hell are you – It's a trap, you idiot!" the girl snapped as the Faunus approached. "Sun, get your friend out of here! She's gonna kill him!"

"That's the guy from the Haven attack. Believe me, he can take care of himself," Sun shouted. He jumped up and swung across the rafters until reaching the top of the rope holding Blake up. "You'll land on your feet, right?"

"I hate you," Blake lied as Sun took Gambol Shroud from his back and slashed through the rope. Blake plummeted towards the ground and landed without a noise on her feet, catching Gambol Shroud in her left hand when Sun dropped it.

"Nah," Sun disagreed when he landed beside her.

"Dramatic! Not scary, though!" Sora shouted at the ceiling as Blake and Sun walked over. He looked down at Blake and smiled.

"Blake, this is Ruby's boyfriend Sora. Sora, this is Ruby's friend Blake," Sun introduced happily.

"Nice to meet you," Blake muttered quietly, drawing her blades. "She'll be back; we need to run."

Then another light came on, and a woman in a frilly albeit sensible battle uniform waved excitedly down at the three. She was wearing mostly white, with chocolate and pink mixed in for good measure to compliment her mismatched eyes. "Neo," Blake growled, entering a battle stance.

The woman raised her umbrella and aimed it directly at them. An explosion of fire rushed suddenly towards the three young warriors, and they all jumped in different directions. "That wasn't Dust!" Blake shouted as the flames exploded against the ground.

"Magic!" Sora responded. He could almost hear the girl's eye roll. "We'll tell you later!"

Sun rolled to his feet and raised his staff. "He's not lying!" he shouted, looking around for Neo. She'd abandoned her spotlight to hunt for the younger warriors in the darkness. He groaned when a piece of metal slammed into the base of his head and he was knocked unconscious. Neo stood over his body, considering killing him, but eventually deciding he wasn't worth the trouble. She stepped over the unconscious warrior and made a bee line for her real target.

Sora was quick, she noted. He blocked her umbrella's first attack easily and even managed to sidestep her kick that came in next. Neo smiled. It looked like he would have been an interesting fight if she cared for a fight. But she didn't at the moment. He slashed his sword through the air where she had been standing a half second before. And he was too damn fast to let this continue with someone else around. So she used her new, Darkness enhanced Semblance. She thought it too good a death for him, but death was death so she couldn't really complain. Sora could do nothing as his mind and reality were suddenly flooded with illusions of what would root him in place long enough for her to bury a blade in his body.

But first... She turned and began to look for the girl. She wished she could taunt her like Roman would have, but Neo didn't really have the vocal range for that. Roman would have done it like a true professional stage player, hitting every dramatic chord and throwing in a crescendo of mocking. Neo supposed she had to settle for making the cat scream. She finally caught sight of the girl hiding in the rafters; dying her hair blonde had been a tactical mistake after all. Neo measured the distance and angle while she turned away to continue looking around. Then she turned on her heel and launched a Firaga at the kitty cat. She didn't move in time, and Neo was happy to learn that cats did not actually have nine lives. She flicked a switch on her umbrella, and the blade extended. Killing time.

She approached Sora and smiled up at his face. She'd send a picture of the dead body to Red's Scroll with Sora's own! She just wished she could see the girl's face when her world imploded. Neo raised the umbrella and aimed the spike right for Sora's jugular vein – most blood for the blow. That would make a truly spectacular picture! She stabbed forward, excited for the sweet feel of flesh beneath her blade...!

But the blow went wide as her arm – and by extension her entire body – was suddenly pulled to the right by a black ribbon and gun. She looked towards where she was flying, but was greeted by a sharp black blade to the face. She was thrown backwards and hit the ground. Who'd done that!? She looked around for her assailant when she stumbled to her feet. _Kitty cat,_ Neo growled internally. The gang leader looked around for her prey. A moment later the ribbon wrapped around her throat from her left and she was lifted into the air. Just as she felt the weapon's grip on her slipping, she reached out and grabbed the ribbon. With all her strength, she pulled herself towards her assailant and held her weapon before her.

The Faunus brought her sheathe blade up and caught the attack with its flat, sliding to her back so she could go beneath Neo. As the criminal soared above her, Blake kicked out with both her legs and landed a heavy blow to the woman's gut. Neo summoned a portal of Darkness above her and flew through the gate. Blake got to her feet and crossed her blades in front of her. Where was the next attack going to come from?

Behind, it turned out. Blake barely caught scent of it in time. When the blade passed through her form, it was a stone shadow that caught the weapon. Neo was good with a straightforward fight; Blake wouldn't win a fight like that with her, especially not with this weird magic. Blake fired at Neo with her gun and sprinted away as quickly as she could to try and look for an opening in the shadows where she could see better. She slid into the darkness and shot into the lights above; the world became black immediately. Blake reloaded Shroud with her last mag of Dust and tried to figure out a game plan. Teleportation, fireballs... what the Dust was all this?!

She hoped Ruby's boyfriend snapped out of whatever the hell trance he was in soon, or none of them might ever make it out.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora groaned in his sleep, gingerly placing his arm over his eyelids when the darkness became permeated with the telltale red of daylight through skin. He was too tired to wake up right then. He yawned and shut his eyes tighter to try and force himself back to sleep. This was interrupted by four pairs of tiny, sharp feet landing on his chin. The young man yelped in surprise and sat up at full speed, opening his eyes and being blinded by the daylight. A familiar young woman's laugh echoed above him and he groaned, all the while slapping the crab off of his face. "Sora, you lazy bum! This is the second day in a row I've found you snoozing down here!"


	27. Red

**AN:**

 **Long time no see, huh?**

 **Yeah... So I watched the last KH2.8 trailer on Saturday and then the RWBY Vol 4 trailer today (10/3) all the way through, and I just couldn't help but blast through finishing the next chapter. Trust me, most of the following ones will have breaks longer than 4 days.**

 **Wow, that RWBY trailer was awesome! I'm really happy that the time jump is only a few months in the show. Nothing against long time skips, but I was worried they were going to go off the rails with changing things. The animation looks a lot more fluid and Ruby especially looks insanely awesome. I'm guessing that 'superspeed' isn't really her Semblance given how much she defied gravity and bounced off of thin air and separated into three rockets.**

 **Responses:**

 **To gamelover41592: Keep your eyes peeled for Salem's "Origin" as it were. Other topic: I can't wait until everyone's _actually_ together. I'm thinking a beach day, right now. **

**To sethman610: Don't worry. I don't have any plans to ruin the Oathkeeper charm, and Sora wouldn't get angry anyways. He'd be more worried about who could get that close to Ruby, almost killing her. As for Riku x Blake, I think it would actually be pretty realistic. For as similar as Ruby and Sora are, Blake and Riku are even more. Well, maybe Riku is a little more openly light hearted, but they are the heroes in their universes that bring the Darkness.**

 **To Kingofclubs8129: I'm not sure if I'm planning on going into detail about where most of Sora's friends' Hearts have gone, but I could see her having Riku's. For now, most characters from RWBY have the Hearts of the people they're based off of. I'm planning on going into a little more detail later, but the χ -blade's first destruction created the Princesses of Heart, so I'd assume that the incomplete destruction in chapter one would have a different effect and revert some of those Hearts to normal. If I had to go with someone having Riku's Heart in this story, I'd go with Jaune. He's obsessed with power in the name of saving people, even if it takes him deep into the shadows.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Don't worry, it won't be too long before we find out who ordered the Heartless attack.**

 **To CraZramblinGhost: Yeah, when I'm here the chapters tend to be released when I really should be sleeping so I can wake up for class. Erg... Onwards: I'm glad my responses are well received, and even more glad my Keyblade War segments won you over. Yeah, I plan on having Blake use Darkness to an extent, especially since her Semblance is shadows. I don't know if this chapter is as torturous as I would have liked originally, but I didn't want it to drag on super long. I needed to touch on a lot of stuff. Besides, Sora's been facing this same issue for over 7 chapters at this point; it's time to move on for him. It won't be long until the Master Defender shows up.**

 **To grimlock987: You know, maybe he can. Who doesn't love robot arms, after all?**

 **To guest: Oh, I plan on it.**

 **To EonGoddess: Wow, thanks. Those are really high praises that you're giving me, and also huge reliefs. I sometimes worry that I'm straying too far from the baseline of Sora or the others or changing their character too fast when I'm developing the story. So don't worry, everyone struggles with keeping characterization. I love how Sora can overcome any obstacle, but it doesn't always make for good drama. My favorite part of KH1 was actually when Sora lost the Keyblade. The entire time he was smiles and laughter, but when that happened he almost fell apart at first. I think Sora needs to face some more things that are beyond him so he can really grow. And yeah, Ruby is definitely going to learn how to transform her Keyblade pretty soon, and of course it'll be a scythe. I am also incredibly excited for Volume 4. Like I said above, the trailer made me write basically half of this. And its plot is going to affect this somewhat. I already put the Beringel in earlier and I plan on introducing some of Ruby's abilities from the trailer and beyond once I get to see more.**

 _ **Chapter 27: Red**_

" _ **There's a moment we make a decision, not to cower and crash to the ground.  
**_ _ **The moment we face our worst demons: our courage found." –** "I May Fall"_

"Sora, you lazy bum! This is the second day in a row I've found you snoozing down here!" Kairi admonished Sora. She was standing in front of him, her hands on her knees, her eyes shut, and a huge grin on her face. She was wearing her usual outfit, A purple skirt over shorts with a white shirt and various bands along the length of her arms.

"Jeez, give me a break, Kairi!" Sora responded between his own snickers. He ran a hand through the sand covered spikes on his head, and Kairi laughed as the beach fell out of his hair, including a smaller crab or two. The landed on his red jumpsuit and he swept them off with white gloved hands. "It was just a nap."

"What, did another huge black thing swallow you up? Can't use the same excuse twice, Sora," Kari pointed out before she stood up to her full height. She reached out to help Sora up and he grabbed the yellow wristband on her left hand. The red head pulled and stumbled backwards until Sora got to his feet, his over sized yellow shoes stabilizing the both of them. "Admit it, you're just trying to get out of helping with the Highwind II!"

Sora rolled his eyes. Crossing his arms, he said, "Come on, Kairi, that's just mean." He yawned suddenly and swayed from side to side, vision tunneling. "Though now that you mention it, maybe I could use some more sleep."

"Yeah, the storm kept me up all night, too," Kairi responded. She grabbed hold of her left forearm behind her back before turning to look up at the tree houses. "We're lucky anything survived."

Sora grimaced and looked up at the buildings too. "Yeah." There were huge holes in some of the structures, and a few collapsed bridges. The overall structures remained, and it was still easy enough to get to all the areas, but Sora was sure their parents wouldn't want them trying their luck. "We should probably wait for our parents to help us fix all this stuff."

"Hey, you two, I'm not going to do _all_ the work," Riku shouted from the path, carrying a plank of wood over his shoulder as he came into view. "What, did Sora have another weird dream?"

"It wasn't a dream – " Sora stopped suddenly and laughed. "Deja vu."

"You're starting to sound like a broken record, buddy," the white haired boy in the blue pants and yellow shirt pointed out sarcastically. Riku shrugged and tossed the beam of wood into the sand near them. "Whatever. Go back to sleep like the little kid you are, Sora."

"You're not even a year older than me, Riku," Sora retorted, annoyed at his older friend. He walked over to the plank and lifted it up by himself, not one to be outshone by his best friend. "This all that's left of the raft?"

"Well, this and coconuts," Riku said. He jumped down from the path and landed with a thud in the beach, sending specks of sand flying everywhere. Sora dropped the wood and began to wipe the sand from his face. "But those are probably miles away by now if you really want to try fishing them out."

"I bet I could get more than you," Sora brashly challenged.

"In your dreams, Sora," Riku retorted, already tightening his gloves and readying to dive in the water. Sora took his position beside him.

"No! We'll never finish if you two do that," Kairi begged, jumping in front of them. "Come on! We need to replace everything we lost in the storm, guys!"

"But I need to put Riku in his place," Sora whined halfheartedly.

"If you could have done that, the raft would have a different name. What's the score now..? Five to none?"

"Five to one!" Sora shouted indignantly. "You tripped over a tree in our last fight." Riku's face immediately went red, eliciting laughter from both of his friends. "Ah, and it'll be six to five at the end of the day!"

"I'll still be in the lead then," Riku shot back before getting out of his running stance. He sighed and grabbed the plank again. "Okay, I'll take this over there. There should be tons of broken tree trunks around if we start looking." He walked towards the Paopu tree's Island and Kairi followed a moment later.

Sora groaned and followed. He'd wanted to beat Riku. "Hey, wait up!" Sora shouted and he sprinted after Ruby – Sora snorted and shook his head as he ran. He knew that girl in his dream had probably been the dream version of Kairi, especially since they... Sora fought off his blush before getting to his friends. He slid to a walk beside Riku and Kairi, then laced his fingers at the base of his head.

"So what did you dream about?" Kairi asked innocently when he caught up.

Sora chuckled nervously. "Oh, uh. Wow, I barely remember..." Sora mumbled. He scratched his cheek and grimaced: the only thing he remembered was kissing the girl that had looked a little bit like Kairi. "The storm! It was monsters in my dream. They were like these weird shadow things, and they kidnapped you guys, and there was a giant key..."

"Wow. You had a monster nightmare?" Riku mocked, eliciting an eye roll from his friend. "Cliche. What else happened, Scaredy Cat?"

"A giant key... saber? Yeah, that sounds right. Keysaber. I met a giant talking dog and a duck and a mouse. And Riku turned evil -"

"Hey!" Riku shouted indignantly. He dropped the plank and glared at Sora where they had all stopped.

"- and Kairi's Heart was... gone. Riku was taken over by a weird old guy ghost thing and tried to kill me," Sora explained further.

"It feels like the only thing you remembered was that I'm the bad guy," Riku grumbled. He leaned against the raised pathway and frowned at the ground. "What next, I tried to destroy the universe?"

"Yeah!" Sora shouted. "How'd you know?"

"I'm starting to understand why you'd turn evil," Kairi laughed at Riku.

"Shut up," the white haired boy growled, holding back his own laughter behind the facade.

"And I saved Kairi. And then... I – I saved you and we saved the world and you disappeared..." Sora fell silent and looked up at the bridge just above them. A tall, stoic boy with white hair stood there with his arms crossed. He was wearing jeans and a puffy, yellow vest along with bandages wrapped around his left wrist. The man matched Sora's gaze for a while before walking towards the Paopu island. Sora shook his head and the man disappeared; Sora sighed in relief.

"Are you okay, Sora?" Kairi asked, her worry evident on her face.

Sora looked down and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah. R-Riku, you... Uh, you disappeared and I tried to find you. Looked across a million different worlds and I met all these weird people, like a wizard and – Anyways, we saved the world again. Then again. See, you were a hero!"

"Finally," Riku grumbled, still insulted.

"And then?" Kairi asked.

"You guys... died," Sora mumbled. He thought he saw someone up in the tree house window, a woman with red hair and a pink jumper. It looked a lot like Kairi. It _was_ Kairi. From his dream at least. Sora shrugged. "And then..." Sora blushed when he thought about that Ruby girl again. He gulped nervously and grinned at his friends. "W-well it was a just a dream, right? W-w-why are you guys so interested?"

Riku and Kairi smiled at each other before turning to Sora. "That sounded like a deflection," Riku pointed out. He grinned evilly.

"Tell us, come on!" Kairi asked, much more interested now. Nothing like not wanting to talk about something to make someone really want to listen.

"C-come on," Sora mumbled. His blush only continued to deepen with every syllable.

"Your subconscious mind killed us. You owe us the rest of that dream," Riku pointed out, hungry for something with which he could poke fun at his friend.

"I bet he's just being a lazy bum again," Kairi muttered.

"I'll tell you if you beat me in a fight," Sora said quickly, hoping to get out of this conversation and break his losing streak against his friend. He drew his wooden sword from his belt and shook it in front of him.

"So you'll tell me," Riku remarked. He drew his own sword and jumped up the ledge. He looked down at Sora and shrugged. "Just telling it like it is."

"Boys," Kairi scoffed. She laughed as Sora tried to make the jump, too, but instead landed gut first on the edge. "You think you could jump higher?"

"Yes," Sora wheezed from the ground.

He slowly pushed himself up while Riku laughed boisterously at him. The older boy sheathed his weapon and shook his head at Sora. "Okay, that was more than enough to make up for whatever embarrassing thing you dreamed about," Riku pointed out. He grabbed his friend's shoulder and laughed. "I'm not going to embarrass you twice."

"Too bad some of your dream wasn't real," Kairi said suddenly, walking sensibly up the stairs until she was next to her friends. "We got to visit a ton of worlds, it sounds like."

"I was possessed and you had no Heart. Sora got to explore worlds," Riku countered. "I'll stick with the tried and true raft method, like they say that guy did all those years ago. The X guy."

"Xehanort," Sora mumbled.

"Yeah, that's what Grandma said his name was," Riku said with a nonchalant shrug. He looked around. "You go check the Paopu Island for logs. Kairi and me'll go get new coconuts and fish. I – Sora, you okay?"

Sora nodded and turned away. He placed his hand on his cheek and felt a stream of liquid running down his cheek. "I... guess that dream really freaked me out," Sora said disarmingly. He looked over his shoulder. "Yeah, I'll head over there." Then he took off across the bridge at a sprint, ignoring the pounding in his head and the tears on his cheeks. Why was he crying?

He began to grab some of the logs from the nearby trees that had been destroyed in the storm. He dragged them to the bridge one after the other and tossed them down onto the beach beside the one Riku had found. The tedium of the job calmed Sora down and distracted from the pain he'd been going through for some reason. When he had cleaned out the island, Sora sighed and returned to stare out over the water. When he jumped on top of the Paopu tree, he grabbed one of the fruit and stared down at it. The sight of the star made his Heart hurt for some reason.

He sat down where he was standing on the tree and started to take deep breaths, trying to calm himself and stem the tide of tears running down his face. Why was he crying? Why did it feel like he'd forgotten someone!? "Jeez Sora, what's got you so down? This isn't like you!"

"I know, Riku. 'Go get the food for the raft,'" Sora assured. He rubbed his face anxiously, not wanting to show any semblance of weakness around his best friend, especially when he couldn't even begin to explain what was going on with him.

"You know it isn't your fault, right?" Kairi asked, walking up on Sora's other side.

"Guys, I -" Sora turned around and froze. It wasn't Riku and Kairi standing just behind him, but those two older people who'd shown up and disappeared. No, they'd been... fake, hallucinations! This was a hallucination! But then why did he talk to them knowing they weren't real? "Who are you g-guys?"

"You've forgotten me, Sora? It hasn't been _that_ long has it?" the woman joked, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head. Sora tried and failed to respond

"Sora, you'd hate it if we cried over you, right?" the man claiming to be Riku asked. He shook his friend by the shoulders and smiled. "Come on, you saved us! We survived and helped because of you."

"You saved Roxas, Ven, Namine, Xion, Lea, everybody. We didn't die because you disappeared, it was decades later," Kairi explained supportively. She hugged Sora's shoulders for a moment; Sora was surprised when he saw his clothes had suddenly changed – they were all black now.

"So move on already," Riku commanded. He grinned at his younger friend like Sora had grinned at him so many times, then punched Sora's shoulder and pulled the red hoodie up over his friend's head.

At this point, Sora was fully aware he was trapped in... something. He didn't pull the hood from his head, and when his voice came out it was that of his fourteen year old self again. "Riku, Kairi... There's no Darkness here. I don't know if I want to move on; I miss you guys. You -" Sora's voice caught in his throat and tears streamed down his cheeks. When he spoke again, his voice cracked, "I can never come home again. I'm alone."

"Alone?" a third voice asked. Sora froze and resisted the urge to turn around and pull his hood down. He instinctively knew he was back in the clothes he wore on Remna – he stopped himself from remembering the name of the world. Did he want to remember it or... "Sora, you'll hurt my feelings if you say that again!" Sora found himself turning around despite the fact that he was still wondering if he even should.

"You've always got someone, Sora, even if you didn't have us! And you're the one who said she's special, idiot." Sora pulled his hood down and was suddenly face to face with Ruby's pale face and smiling, silver eyes. His Heart skipped a beat and he knew what he was going to do, no matter what. Kairi laughed and hugged her friend from behind, Riku soon following suit. Riku said, "Come on, Sora, don't cry about us. That's not how you should remember friends. And besides, we are always with you."

"Yeah, dummy, how else would we be here? This _is_ your Heart after all," Kairi pointed out. She smacked her friend in the back of the head lightly.

Sora didn't say anything. Tears kept streaming down his face while he stared at Ruby's face and she gave him a big thumbs up. "And don't forget we made a promise to see each other again, Sora!" Ruby shouted, her grin wiping away all of Sora's anguish. He felt a weight in his left hand and he looked down to see the Wayfinder he had made before parting ways with her.

"You're right," he said with a voice equally hollow and resolute, and the Wayfinder lit up like a star of ruby red in his palm. Sora turned on his heel, a bright red light erupting into being from both his right and left sides, the glow illuminating the entirety of the dark dance club. Fenrir was floating a few feet from right hand, a blood red handle longer than he was tall attached to the side of the weapon's basket to form a scythe.

The former Keyblade wielder buckled his Wayfinder to his hip and took a threatening step towards the figure standing in the center of the room. "How dare you do that to me!? How dare you show me the people I lost, the home I lost you sick, twisted..." Sora shook his head to cut himself off and calm his mind for the fight that was about to occur.

The criminal turned around and stared dumbfounded at her opponent, her eyes wondering just how this idiot could be awake. He'd been trapped in an illusion, there was no way he'd be able to break out! Sora placed the scythe's handle over his shoulders as he had seen Ruby do a thousand thousand times. Tears were streaming down from his angry and pained eyes. "I'm coming for you," he growled from behind gritted teeth, and a Firaga exploded at the end of the weapon. He was suddenly shooting forward like a rocket, scythe raised above him and ready to bisect his enemy. "NEO!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Taiyang Xiao Long hated rain forests, for many reasons. The main one being that his daughters were currently a million miles away in – what was easiest the worst Kingdom to the man – Atlas. Those girls were going to have to meet the crazy Schnee patriarch who wanted to blow up Vale to make sure the Dragon wouldn't wake up. Well, at least he'd get to see them in a week or two now that he'd finally managed to track the Spring Maiden down in Menagerie's huge nature biomes. Apparently she had been living out on the Northern shore of the island for about a month now where the tundra and the rain forest met. He figured that made a twisted sort of sense, given her proclivity for, well, 'Spring.'

Tai stepped in something and groaned angrily. His foot resisted a little when he lifted it, but he could still walk. The smell would just stick to him now. Literally. And this led him to the second reason he hated rain forests – civilization had toilets. Tai adjusted his pack's position on his shoulders and set out again, hoping something would come after him so he could punch it hard enough to get rid of his frustration. Of course, they said animals could sense stuff like that, which probably helped keep them away. "I was sure Atlas was my least favorite place on the planet," he grumbled when a mosquito landed on his neck. He slapped it to death instantly. "I was wrong."

He reached the tree line a little while later and sighed happily. It was a beach – and one he wouldn't mind lounging on sometime if he ever got the chance. Someone – the Spring Maiden, he guessed – had set up lounge chairs and a CCT music system. "Okay, time to – Hey, handsome!" Tai turned and looked over at the woman who had exited a small shack in a burning red and black bikini that matched her bright red head of hair. "Oh! O-oh, hello," the woman said. She laughed nervously and grabbed a towel from a nearby chair, wrapping it around her body. "I... Hello."

"Right... Oz sent me," Tai cut her off. This girl was almost more awkward as Ruby. And _that_ was really damn impressive. "You're in danger here, so he needs you to come with me."

"Hmm..." the woman grumbled. She clicked her tongue and shook her head in disappointment before continuing. The idea of a battle had snapped her into focus and she was no longer scared as she had been before. "You see, Ozpin has got this whole code phrase thing going on. You didn't give one to me yet, so..." She raised her hand and a green tinge erupted across her fingers. "One... Two..."

Tai rolled his eyes. "Belphaba of the West."

The glow disappeared. "Hmph... Wanted a fight with something that wasn't a Grimm," the woman grunted. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Business it is..."

"Taiyang. You can call me Tai, " he responded.

"Taiyang... Oh, you're... Summer Rose's... You know," the woman responded. She smiled and shrugged to try and dismiss the conversation. "Sorry. You said Oz wants me to leave?"

"Yes, now."

"Look, just because Amber got nabbed and killed doesn't mean I'm going to. She was a good person, it sucks," the woman said. She sat down in one of the many chairs she had thrown about on the beach. "But they haven't found Rana, Ledenica, or me yet."

"Rana disappeared almost three months ago now," Tai countered. That quieted the Spring maiden right down and she stood up with her arms crossed. "If you come with me we can get you somewhere safe and away from who ever it is that's hunting you."

"G – Just give me a moment," the Spring Maiden said and she began pacing up and down the beachfront.

"I knew we wouldn't be lucky," Mercury whispered to his group behind the trees. Not that it mattered with Emerald making the three of them invisible and silent. Except to the mosquitos, who had a nasty habit of swarming him. "Now she's going to leave and we're going to have to start this entire stupid thing over again. Fine, at least I'll never have to come to this damn jungle ever again and get eaten alive. Seriously, if all our work was pointless, maybe we should have just gone after the one in Atlas first. Less stupid bugs if we did. On the other hand we would have had to deal with mopey Adam Taurus... Never mind: this _is_ better."

"Shut up and let me concentrate," Emerald growled to him from the other side of Cinder Fall.

He ignored the suggestion, as usual. "Though is this better than going back to Vale with Blondie? Whew, that is a tough one. He's gotten really..."

"Terrifying," Emerald suggested when she realized he wasn't going to be quiet.

"No, not quite. Is there a word for following what someone says like they're a cult leader promising you things that should be impossible? ...Oh, I know, Cinder-esque," Mercury joked. Crickets. "Wow, nothing. And here I expected to have someone tear my throat out or roast me alive or... something. I mean I am standing next to what is easily one of the most terrifying people in the world."

Cinder sighed and looked over at Mercury. "And what is that list?" she inquired. Merc gulped and decided not to answer – it would get him killed. "Oh no, you wanted to... Heh, you wanted to squeak mouse, then squeak. And know I will be expecting honesty."

Mercury looked past Cinder at Emerald, who shrugged worriedly. Merc returned his gaze to Cinder and opened his mouth to respond. "Salem, obviously, then – "

"I'm not leaving," the Spring Maiden said, and Mercury sighed in relief.

"Saved by the hermit," Merc breathed when Cinder finally turned back to watch and listen.

"Why not?" Taiyang asked angrily.

"Look, don't be all chauvinistic and think I can't take care of myself, okay Taiyang?" the Spring Maiden snapped.

"These people destroyed everything. Alliances between all the Kingdoms and summoned a Dragon from... The single strongest person I have ever met – more than Oz, and definitely more than you – was taken down by their ring leader," Taiyang said quietly. "And I'm not a Chauvinist. My... late wives and my daughters are stronger than me by a mile, each of them. I'm just honest."

"Fine, but it doesn't matter. The... 'Ring Leader' isn't going to come after me personally," the woman countered, her voice much more even now and slightly apologetic. "And even if they were, the people here rely on me. The Grimm would run through here in... three days, at most, with all the tourists. Thousands of casualties like that." She snapped her fingers. "I'm not risking anyone else's life just so I can be a little safe, okay?"

"Now you _really_ sound like Ruby," Tai mumbled. Mercury laughed caustically at the remark. Taiyang sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I looked for you for just around a month here, and got nothing except... maybe some sort of scary tropical disease. And it was for something I could have just called to say apparently – check in more often. Tell us where you are. Stuff like that."

"You could stay a while," the Maiden offered a hint of flirtation in her voice.

"And on that note, I need to look for the next person on my list," Tai said, getting scared shivers and walking towards the tree line to try and escape the uncomfortable situation.

"Tell Ledenica she should visit sometime. That tundra would fit her frigid personality perfectly!" the Maiden shouted.

Taiyang grunted, happy she was no longer reminding him of his daughter. He didn't want either one of them to wind up as hermits in a Godforsaken jungle when they were his age. Hm, he supposed if he traded the jungle for the forest he would also hope they never became him either. Well, time for greener pastures. Metaphorically speaking, that is.

"Is he gone yet?" Mercury asked, his eyes shut while he leaned against a tree.

"No," Emerald whispered.

"Is he gone yet?" he asked again.

"No," Emerald hissed again.

"Is he -"

"If you ask again I will tear your throat out," Cinder said simply. Mercury immediately shut up.

"And here I thought you being quiet was impossible," Emerald remarked. She scoffed and and let her hands rise to massage her temples. Holding any illusion for so long was taxing, even with her semblance being enhanced by Darkness. "Finally. He's gone."

"Okay, let's go get her," Mercury suggested. He stood up and peered around the tree to look at the maiden, who had retrieved her weapon from inside and placed it on one of the chairs. "Looks like she's going with 'better safe than sorry.'"

"It won't matter," Cinder muttered. She stood up as well and walked through the furthest edge of Emerald's illusion. "I'll take what I want no matter what she does to stop me."

At that, the Spring Maiden grabbed her weapon from where it rested and turned towards the intruder in one fluid movement. The weapon activated in her hand and a monk's spade erupted into being, the staff red and the head a bright bronze. "And just who are you? How long were you there?"

"That guy was right – you're as stupid as Red for sure," Mercury said when Emerald dropped her illusion. "Hopefully not quite as good at fighting. I think she almost killed us last ti -" Cinder glared at him and he froze, much to the snickering enjoyment of Emerald.

The woman's eyes widened. "You're the ones that Qrow warned me about!" She twirled the spade around her body and raised her off hand in front of her. It began to glow with a dull green light as she prepared for battle, all anxiety gone from her face as she prepared to fight for her life. "You killed Rana and Amber."

"And you'll make three," Cinder pointed out mockingly. She pulled out her own weapons and the air began to burn around her

"So you're the one who stole Amber's powers. Did one of you take Rana's too?" the Spring Maiden snapped. As her emotions flared up, so too did the glow around her hand. Mercury glanced over his shoulder nervously, but shook his head. He'd thought he'd heard something, but there didn't seem to be anything there.

Cinder didn't respond with words. She instead jumped at her prey and ignited her weapons, bringing them both over her head in tandem. Mercury and Emerald followed suit, the silver haired warrior running at the Maiden from the left with black lightning tracing his every step. Emerald came from the other side and charged the chains of her Kurasigama using poison magic.

The maiden stood still, her spade parallel to her arm behind her and her other hand glowing with the same magic as for the past few minutes. She brought it up quickly, and all three of her attackers found themselves face down in the dirt with thick green vines wrapped around their bodies. "You really thought I was staying here for the beach?" the Spring Maiden asked incredulously. She closed her hand into a fist and the vines snaked their way around her enemies' bodies, tightening as they reached for each terrorists' throat.

Emerald broke out of her restraints first, the poison on her weapons' chains having degraded the flora holding her down. She twirled to her feet and her chains whipped around like a wild wall of poisoned metal. The Spring Maiden's eyes widened as the chains shot towards her, and she let herself fall to pass horizontally between two of the planes with her weapon tight against her side. She came out of the spin and into a butterfly attack, the spade flapping like a deadly wing at her only free opponent.

Emerald did not even flinch at the severity of the attack, and simply dodged each incoming attack before pulling back on the chain and expertly moving it so it caught the head of the Maiden's spade and wrapped around it. The Maiden let go of her weapon as soon as the chains pulled and performed a hand spring over another chain. As she flipped through the air, she tensed her legs again, and hit Emerald with a dropkick that got rid of her.

By this time, of course, the chains had already done their job and burned through Mercury and Cinder's vines. Cinder rolled backwards and shot a bolt of lightning at the falling Maiden. It hit her side, black electricity running all over her body. That and the force of the blow stunned her and she tumbled through the sand. She came to a rest face down. "Easy," Mercury said while lowering his smoking heel to the ground. He put his hands in his pockets and smirked over at the unconscious woman.

"Sure," Emerald groaned. She pushed herself up to her feet and glared at Mercury. "That's just because you weren't kicked by her."

Merc shrugged and began to walk over to her. "I'll get the left," he muttered. Emerald shook her head and moved towards the right hand. Cinder remained where she was, not even moving to put on her white glove. When Mercury and Emerald got near the Spring Maiden, the ground beneath them gave way, swallowing them up and slamming shut above them. Cinder had jumped into the air and hovered using powerful jets of flames that came out of her feet, thereby avoiding the sinkhole. Her eyes were surrounded by an orange aura shaped like the wing of a butterfly.

The Spring Maiden got up and glared at Cinder. "Tell me who has Rana's powers and I won't torture it out of you," the woman growled, her eyes glowing with their own emerald aura that mirrored Cinder Fall's.

"Fine," Cinder replied. She drifted to the ground, though the glow remained. The orange slowly shifted to a blue like the sky on a clear summer day.

The Spring Maiden took a step back and began to hyperventilate. "That's not – That's not possible! You can't have more than one -" She was cut off by a sudden deluge of water coming from the ocean, a jet of the stuff that crashed into her with the force of a truck. Were it not for her powerful aura, she would have died. As it was, she crashed through a tree trunk wider around than a pair of gorillas, the exploosion of bark echoing like lightning before whistling to crash down into the sea. Cinder ignored the gargantuan piece of wood that slammed next to her and bathed her in sand. She placed her weapons into their sheathe and walked slowly towards where her soaked opponent remained.

"It's magic, Flora. By definition it's impossible," Cinder explained when she walked up. She placed her hands behind her back and leaned forward to stare down at the woman with her broken arms and legs. Cinder sighed and twirled her right hand behind her back, summoning a portal of Darkness from which her party fell beside her. "I had hoped that would be a more interesting battle." Cinder pulled out her glove and pulled it tight against her hand. "Grab her, would you?"

Mercury and Emerald glanced at each other as they nursed their wounds. Still, they did as she commanded and lifted the woman up by her armpits. Flora screamed out in pain as her broken arms were jostled and her shattered legs dragged against the ground. Cinder advanced and aimed her palm directly at the center of Flora's face. "Had you not ever felt it, that incompleteness, that hunger? I thought it would be whole once I became the Fall Maiden, but it only got worse. So if I feel it, I know you must as well. It's a glass half full for me right now." The air hissed and a small scarab crawled its way out of a portal in Cinder's hand. "For you, it's about to be empty."

When Taiyang came back, having sprinted back upon hearing an echoing crack of thunder, he was faced with a woman whose last emotions remained etched on her face. Terror, hatred, and unending agony hidden beneath a deadly black substance that stretched diagonally across her face. He reached instinctively for his Scroll, but stopped once he realized that the small CCT tower on the island only worked in the main tourist area. "Dammit!" he snarled to himself.

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _Seven Years before the First Great Keyblade War_

Oz stared down at the weapon he had left next to him while he finished examining the last of the books. He leaned back in his chair and ran one black gloved hand through his hair while he stared down at the page. The Keyblade had shown him the future, the irrefutable and immutable future and he hated it. He hated knowing what he now knew, but he could not escape the truth of it no matter what he did. The future was the one that must come to pass, even if he detested it so. He stood up and pulled his hood over his head, then walked to the door before the knocking even began. He slowly opened the door a crack and walked over to the chair in which he had been sitting a moment earlier.

"You wanted to see me?" Skye asked. He slid through the opening of the door and shut it silently behind him. His hood was also pulled up which made him almost identical to Ozpin . The Master motioned for his apprentice to come near.

Oz had cooled off somewhat after Salem's death, and realized that most of his students were not ready for Keyblades still – most of them had still been incapable of even using magic three years prior. Now, however, they were finally ready. This was the day they would receive their weapons and the Books of Prophecy he had written for them and begin to destroy the World. "Someone is controlling the Heartless, Skye," the old man said. He wasn't turning his attention from the book he had just finished. His gaze was fixed instead on the page he had left open. It was a Neoshadow. "Someone wants to destroy us all."

"Why?" Skye asked simply. It was a fair question to ask. Who could possibly be so insane they would risk the entire universe by using the Heartless as a weapon?

"Why else?" Ozpin supplied. He began to flip through pages until he came upon the one with only a simple Shadow Heartless, the purest most simple form of those Dark creatures. On the opposite page, a heavily stylized 'X.' "They want what everyone wants. The **χ** -blade."

"But we moved it after the fire. It's safe with us... Isn't it?" Skye supplied, waving his hands in front of him to assure his Master and himself. Ozpin turned in his chair and rested his arm atop the backrest of the wooden stool. Even from beneath his hood, Ozpin's worried glare was clearly evident. Skye fidgeted nervously and placed his hands in his pockets. "Isn't it?"

Ozpin looked down at the Book of Prophecy and then over at the page he had torn from its siblings, stacked atop four just like it. One face was clearly drawn and Ozpin slammed one of the other books on top of the stack so he would no longer have to look at it. "I... Here," Ozpin stood up and held his hand out. Skye flinched but remained silent when a black Keyblade appeared in Oz's fist.

The man stood still for a while, then tossed the heavy metal object at the younger man. Skye brought his hands up and stumbled backwards, the blade hitting his chest and falling into his outstretched arms. Skye looked between the weapon and Oz for a while, then shook his head. "Wait, we're all getting these at the same time, though!" he shouted. He moved his hand onto the handle and held the weapon tentatively out in front of him. "Why are you doing this?"

"We need to stop whoever this is from controlling the **χ** -blade," Oz stated simply, flipping lazily through the open Book of Prophecy again. "It's likely that they are not staying in this corner of our World, where we are. The Keyblades would make us naturally intriguing to this enemy of ours, and naturally dangerous. Which is likely why they took Salem."

"To make them a Keyblade!" Skye saw where Ozpin had been going. "But they're weapons of Light!"

"They're conduits, neither totally Light nor Dark despite whatever Affinities they have," Ozpin explained.

"You sound like you're speaking from experience," Skye joked.

"..." Oz had been in a Dark place after Salem's kidnapping and, likely, death. Darkness had come to him much more easily than he would ever admit, and the Keyblade had strengthened that energy source as well.

Skye knew when to drop a topic, though. He sighed. "We need to get everyone their Keyblades and start looking for this guy!"

Ozpin remained silent for a long while, just flipping through the book. "Guess you better get started then," Ozpin said. He shut the book slowly, purposely avoiding the last page and the face drawn upon it. He made his voice sound happier than it was. "Unfortunately, you'll have to go it alone from here on out."

Skye looked up in surprise and his hood nearly fluttered from his head. "But what about the others?"

Oz stood up and handed the Book to his apprentice. Skye dismissed his new weapon and took the Book from his Master. "One of them is a traitor," Oz said. He reached down to grab his weapon, then dismissed it. He turned around and began to gather books and other materials and place them into a bag. "It's in the Book."

"What's a book have to do with that?" Skye wondered as he flipped through pages more and more frantically. "They – Oz, they're my friends. They're good people."

"Everything. It's a transcription of the future," Ozpin explained shortly. He looked around for a moment and ran over to a shelf to collect some more things.

"Of the... Oz, this says the World is going to end. Sh-shouldn't we stop that?" Skye asked. Ozpin stopped what he was doing and let his clenched fists fall to his sides. After a moment, he let his hands unclench and he sighed. "Shouldn't we try to save everybody?"

"There are three outcomes behind the Door to the Future that the Keyblade has unlocked, Skye. In all of them, people begin to collect Light, ostensibly to protect it, though many do it merely to amass power for themselves or some alliance. The first ending: The event I detail in there, the Keyblade War, is averted. Light continues to be gathered until, eventually, all of it is stockpiled. With Light being jealously stolen, the greed in people's Hearts turns it all to Darkness. The World ends and never returns." Ozpin wasn't looking back at his apprentice as he said all this, instead staring at the intersection of wall and floor at his feet. "The second ending: The Keyblade War occurs because all of us search for the Adversary. Our strength is spread far too thin, hatred grows between us and we are picked off one at a time by the forces of Darkness. The World ends and never returns."

"And the third?" Skye asked.

Ozpin turned around and smiled beneath his hood. "That is the ending we will choose in this story. Unfortunately, it requires much from the two of us. And, sadly, for the events in that book to occur." Oz sighed and fought off tears before saying, "Go to the last page."

Skye looked down at the open book in his hands for a while, then flipped to the end. He gasped and shook his head. "N-no, not – "

"Yes."

Skye fell silent. "Oz, you're asking me to help make sure they try to kill each other!" he screamed. He threw the book at his Master, and the man simply caught it as if it were moving at a snail's pace. "I can't do that to my friends!"

"The truest expression of one's Heart is when they put their life on the line for what they believe in. It is the only way that those who do not betray the Light can come together when the time is right, Skye. They must know who they can trust, but that trust can only come from the deepest Darkness in their relationship," Ozpin explained. He walked over to his student and handed over the book once more. "I took that page from their books. They will know there is a traitor, but not that person's identity. They have to hate each other to become the generals of the Keyblade War. Only then will the Armies of the Light defeat that of the Darkness."

"Then why does it say that 'On that day shall Darkness prevail and Light expire?'" Skye challenged.

"I anticipated their actions. If they try to prevent the war, it is only inevitable that it shall happen. The traitor will go to the Adversary with this knowledge, that Light is doomed. The others will fight to protect it. Light's survival can only occur if our enemy believes they will be victorious."

"What's to stop them from giving the **χ** -blade to this Adversary now?"

"Simple. I moved it somewhere they won't find it," Ozpin said. He turned around and began to pack again.

"I'm not going to even ask."

"Good," Oz grunted.

Skye was quiet for a long while as Ozpin began to rifle through things and pack. "You going somewhere?"

Oz glanced at his student. "No," Ozpin stated as he turned back to the bag he had packed. He closed the bag up and brought it over to his student. "You are. That's the last part of my plan, Skye: you pretend to be me and search for our Adversary elsewhere in the World. With 'me' gone, they will likely return here, to the home of the **χ** -blade."

"Why give me this Keyblade?" Skye inquired. He took the bag and roped it over his shoulders then summoned his Keyblade to his hand. He studied the black and white lines intently, wondering why his was the way it was.

"I will separate myself from them so as to avoid raising suspicion. I am not you after all," Ozpin said, ignoring the question. He stopped after a moment and looked over at his apprentice. His shoulders slumped. "That Keyblade I gave you – it was the first she ever made. Telling them that will stop them from assuming anything is wrong. I need my Keyblade though – she chose it for me personally."

"You didn't tell us that," Skye said. He hefted his weapon over his shoulder and sighed. "Yeah, you'll want to keep it, then. What should I do now?"

"You'll each be getting different names – you saw them, they're in the book." Skye nodded in recognition. "I assume you know what to name them all?" Skye nodded again. "Named for their greatest weaknesses. The wrath they feel or the jealousy they inspire. Mine will be Luxu." For his greatest weakness was just wanting to touch Salem one more time. He might even give in to the Darkness for that...

Skye looked down at the ground and bit his cheek beneath his hood. It might work – he and Oz were about the same height now, and they looked identical with the hoods of their Black Coats up. And if Oz stayed away from the others, Skye doubted they would be any the wiser. "I've never even been outside the city before, Oz."

"Don't you want to see all the World out there? All the people and all the Hearts and all the Light worth defending? Our enemy must be doing things to the World beyond Daybreak Town. Those plans must be defeated to weaken the Adversary for our final battle. Go, the World needs you, just as this city needs me."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora slashed down with his scythe and Neo barely dodged it, flipping backwards to avoid the blade of the weapon. Fenrir dragged through the ground, leaving a huge, two foot deep scar in the tile and the cement below it. Sora didn't let any of its momentum disappear with the drag, however, and continued the arc of the attack. He spun where he stood and turned the upward arc into a horizontal one aimed at where Neo's head would be when she came to her feet. The woman made her first vocal noise of the night – a single yelp of fear – and brought her umbrella up to deflect the attack above her. Sora responded by sliding his hands up the handle and swinging the weapon in a shorter arc. The base of the handle slammed into Neo's legs and she hit the ground.

Sora didn't say anything as he moved, his tears drying on his face he was moving so fast. He brought the scythe above his head and readied to deliver a heavy blow into his enemy's midsection. Neo's mismatched eyes glinted with fear and she rolled away from the incoming blow before getting to her feet. She raised her hand and launched a beam of Darkness at Sora. His world went dark again and he saw sand and sun once again. "NO!" he roared. There was the sound of shattering glass, and he bowled through the illusion shoulder first. Neo gulped and turned on her heel to run away.

"No!" Sora shouted, and he moved as quickly as he had back when he had his Keyblade. Just a black blur that appeared in front of Neo and was replaced with him, black coat fluttering out behind him from the sudden change in direction and scythe raised in both hands above his head. His mouth was a thin, determined line full of pure rage. "You're not getting away so easily." He slashed down and landed a blow on Neo's midsection. The criminal was suddenly bouncing across the ground and into a tower of speakers. There was a dull rumble above her, and the speakers crashed down on top of her.

Sora advanced on the pile of electronics and held the weapon out in front of him, carefully ready to to deflect whatever attack came next. There was an explosion of Darkness from within the pile of speakers and Sora dodged the first one. He jumped slightly over it and landed on the face before jumping up to one above it. He did this a few more times, bouncing higher and higher, then on the last one cast a Firaga behind him and shot towards the smoking source of the explosion. He twirled the weapon around his body a few times to give it extra momentum, and finally slashed down at his target. The blade buried itself in Neo's shoulder and through her entire body. Sora's eyes widened in surprise. "Um.. did I..?" The sound of shattering glass came again, and the body disappeared around Fenrir's blade. Sora spun on his heel and raised his glowing weapon defensively – he was now surrounded by a veritable army of Neos, each pacing a few steps to the left and right with their weapons clacking noisily against the ground.

"They're illusions, only one of them can hurt you!" Blake shouted from across the room. To demonstrate, she stood up suddenly on the other side of the DJ's table and fired into the crowd of Neo's. The ones she hit shattered in a single hit. Sora grinned and dashed towards the closest one. The Neo sidestepped his blow – barely – and punched him in the face. Sora stumbled back a half step, but he was energized. He'd gone half speed to make sure he could see if this Neo was the real one. He slashed out, much faster this time, and bisected the Neo. She shattered like glass. Sora looked accusingly over at Blake, and the woman shrugged. "So... maybe they can hurt you!"

It was at that point that all of the Neos converged on Sora in a mob. He dodged a stab from the umbrella's tip and destroyed his attacker with his scythe. He moved into defending himself from the next and slapped a kick away before firing a blizzard into the illusion's gut. He shot flames next, shattering a group of them coming at him, and was thrown the other direction. With one swing another three were gone and he landed feet first on another. He shot a Firaga from the base of his feet and slammed the base of the weapon into another Neo's face. It shattered. "Gah, are any of you real!?" Sora snapped as the last ten or so Neos advanced on him. His eyes widened. Of course... He gripped the bottom of the weapon's handle to give him as much length as he could, and with one sweeping blow that extended all around him, the last of the Neos disappeared accompanied by the sound of shattering glass. "Nope. Apparently not."

Sora placed the base of the scythe on the ground beside him and the glow of both his weapon and the Wayfinder at his hip died out. Fenrir drifted back into Sora's hand and he sprinted towards where Sun was laying unconscious on the ground. "You okay?" the young man asked after casting a Cura. Sun sat up, still woozy, and nodded... before tipping over to the ground. Sora dashed forward and grabbed his friend by the shoulders. "Okay buddy, let's get you up." Sora deactivated his weapon and put it away before grabbing Sun's shoulder and helping him to his feet. Sora looked over at Blake who was trying to sneak out of the building. "Hey! Grab his weapon!"

The girl stopped. She walked towards Sora and Sun. "Something is weird about your head," Sora noted as he helped Sun stumble towards the door. Blake stared at him like he was an idiot. "No, really! Something's off!"

"Those are her ears, dum dum," Sun grunted from his buddy's shoulder.

"Sun!" Blake hissed angrily, though she supposed Sora _had_ seen her ears. She didn't know much about the boy, but she would rather not risk him being one of those people wearing black masks and beating Faunus to –

"Oh, you're a Faunus!" Sora shouted, the word echoing around the empty club. He held his free hand out to her. "I didn't know that."

"Sh... s'secret," the dazed monkey Faunus groaned.

"Oh, um... Look, I... I just meant that in the picture Ruby showed me, you had black hair," Sora explained dumbly. Blake stared at him like he was joking. He had to be joking, he'd assumed she was human, didn't notice her ears, and... no response. "Why are you blonde?" Blake nearly fell flat on her face at that. She hoped Weiss never met Sora – he'd probably learn to respond to 'Dunce' or 'Moron' before his own name.

"I dyed it," Blake said without a hint of condescension. Figures Ruby would find a boy almost as thoughtless as she could be... and just as good in a fight. Sora grinned in embarrassment and ignored Sun's weak, semi-mocking laughter.

"You aren't... freaked out?" Blake asked as they neared the doors.

"Why? Because of the ears?" Sora asked. He snorted and shook his head like it was just a big joke. "Nah, that's nothing. Donald and Goofy didn't even surprise me, and they were a three foot tall duck and a seven foot tall... Dog, I wanna say?"

"Blake! Blake!" Sun hissed. He smiled when she leaned in. "He knew the Golden Mouse!"

Blake shook her head and smiled down at Sun. "Let's... get that concussion checked out before you say anything else crazy, okay Sun?" Blake suggested.

"Oh, by the way -" The doors flew in, and a single man stood in the center of the opening. Ren and Nora were staring at him in disbelief, because he had just kicked down the huge double doors. "Ozpin isn't dead. You know, I can't wait to talk to you more. From how Ruby and Yang talk about you, you sound pretty great!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

The patriarch of the Schnee family sat busy at his desk, calmly typing up reports for the Schnee Dust Company. One would think, with his youngest daughter having been missing for a month, that he would have been an emotional wreck. However, his daughter's cohorts were not nearly as clever as they would have liked to believe, nor was Winter good enough a liar to make him believe she was not involved in the deception. In fact, the man had a large number of people constantly informing him of his daughter's whereabouts. Speaking of...

The man stood up and walked to his front door. While he had butlers and servants for his huge estate, he was of the belief that a man should never hand over work which he is capable of completing himself. When one relied on others to do the smallest things for them, one became foolish. When one became foolish, they became docile. When one became docile, they became weak. The head of the Schnee family would never allow himself to fall into that trap. He was responsible for the vast majority of the world's Dust supply; if he allowed himself to become weak, the world would be in far too precarious a position for his liking. He reached the door of the mansion a few moments later, and opened it to come face to face with his own daughter's fist raised to knock. "Winter, Weiss..." he stopped and looked past them. "... and company. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Wow... is your dad psychic?" the young woman in red asked quietly.

"No," Weiss admonished her younger friend. "He's been watching us."

The hooded girl cringed and pulled up her hood to hide her face. "All the time?" the girl squeaked.

"Yes, I did see footage of you eating about three hundred packages of cookies as well as your blatantly bad attempts at writing what I can only assume to be love letters," the patriarch of the Schnee dynasty said.

The man beside her looked down at his niece. "You ate all the cookies!?" he asked in mock indignation. "Traitor."

"Ah, the ruffian," Schnee noted. His gaze met his elder daughter's and a blush crept across her features.

"The what?" the ruffian asked blankly.

"Nothing!" Winter hissed at him.

He blinked and looked around. "Not Neptune... Wait!?" He pointed at himself in disbelief. "Ruffian? Me? This look took _years_ to perfect, okay..." He glanced nervously at the ground and then back up at the white haired man. He coughed and scratched his head before carefully tacking on a "Sir?"

"Hmph. Not hopeless," Schnee noted curtly. He took a step back and out of the doorway and directed his next words to his daughter. "Please come inside, introduce our guests. I cannot wait to hear your reasoning for staying away for so long, or why you would decide to come _back_ after... what did you call it? 'Escaping?'"

"Thank you, Father," Weiss said with just a perfect hint of the indignant rebellion of youth. He remembered acting like that with his own father decades prior.

"Pure white. How did I guess it?" the ruffian growled dryly. He motioned with his head towards the white leather couch. "Let me guess, never had a dog."

"Not for my daughters' lack of desire," the older man responded with a hint of humor to his voice. "They found the breeds that shed the least, or only had hair that matched with everything else. But animals are distractions." He narrowed his eyes on the ruffian and his words grew acerbic as he added that last part. "Now... introductions?"

"Of course," Winter said. She bowed her head slightly and raised her hand towards the ruffian. "This is Qrow Branwen."

"The old victor of the Vytal Tournament. Team... STRQ, was it?" the Schnee patriarch inquired. Qrow blinked slowly then nodded as confirmation. "Hm. My elder daughter was young at the time, but we were present for your victory. You performed... adequately."

Winter, never the one to miss a chance to annoy her father even at her own expense, said, "Yes. I was quite the fan, especially of you. A Qrow Branwen poster even adorned the wall near my bed – until Father tore it down and incinerated it," Winter said. Qrow stared at her incredulously and then down at the girl in red. He pointed at himself like it was a question. "He hated the idea I could ever want to be a Huntress."

"And you did it anyways," the old man muttered. "Much to my chagrin."

Winter smiled triumphantly and did not seem to intend to move on. This left Weiss to clear her throat. "This is Ruby -"

"Hello!" the young woman in red shouted excitedly. "I am pleased to... finally... adjourn-? Parley! Parley with you... No..."

"- and this is... Neptune," Weiss said, her arm wrapped through that of a young man with blue hair. He waved nervously at the man with his free hand and then grew quiet.

Mr. Schnee turned and looked over at the two standing with his youngest child. The young woman acted – and even looked – like an overly excited puppy while she bounced from side to side. When the dog pushed its head out from her pack, it only added to the effect. "Zwei, no!" the girl hissed. She turned over her shoulder and tried to shove it back down, but the dog resisted and kept yipping excitedly.

"You – How did I miss that you had a dog for over a month!? The food alone... He ate the cookies too!" Qrow shouted. He waved his fist violently in front of him and began yelling at his niece. "You'd choose a dog over your own uncle!?"

Weiss slammed her hand into her head and groaned. "...Dunces..." she growled below her breath. Mr. Schnee smiled to himself at that. Despite her insistence to the contrary, Weiss still held a deep albeit begrudging respect for her father's opinions in some matters. He doubted that his view of them would destroy the bonds between them, but she wanted him to like her friends.

He tore his attention from his daughter and his scowl returned. He studied the three visitors who had been brought before him to test for his approval. Sadly, that was a game unto itself. He wanted his elder daughter to get as far away from Qrow Branwen as possible – the stories of the man's... 'adventures' stretched across every corner of Remnant. No, Winter deserved much more than that man child. But would approving of him or disapproving of him drive a wedge between them before a romance truly began? If he was honest with himself, she probably did not care in the slightest what he wanted either way, so he should be honest with them. "I am appropriately underwhelmed by both this ruffian and his puppy of a niece," the rich man said bluntly. He turned his discerning eye on Neptune next. "And of you I have as much to say as you have had this entire time. Nothing. Perhaps I shall see if you are worthy of any attention. Perhaps not."

"Thanks..." Neptune whispered. He'd never _not_ made an impression on someone before.

"Now, why are you really here?" the Dust magnate inquired of Winter.

"Scrap the DISC." That broke the man's composure.

He turned on Qrow, his furious blue eyes clashing with the other man's calm crimson. In his anger, he didn't even deny its existence. "You – How could you possible know about that?"

"Cause I'm not an idiot," Qrow retorted. The Schnee patriarch narrowed his eyes and considered the man for a moment. It seemed his first assessment of the man as a fool had been incorrect. Qrow had a sharp and disturbingly intelligent streak beneath his recovering alcoholic's facade. "Dust Ignition Seismic Controller. Using the friction generated by earthquakes to ignite Dust deposits – it's a pretty smart idea. Disturbing, but smart."

"It doesn't exist," the man responded belatedly.

"Father, you can't hide this from me. I have access to both company files and to military files," Winter pointed out.

"You wouldn't be cleared for those files -"

"The whispers are there and you raised me to be more resourceful than to look at only the first page." Winter smiled coolly.

"Get out," her father whispered. He turned around and placed his hand on a simple, white wooden chair.

"Fath-" Weiss began.

"I will not be questioned by children in my own home!" he screamed. He picked up the chair and threw it across the room in a rage. Weiss flinched and stared at where it had bounced off of the wall and shattered into its individual pieces. His face calmed and he took a deep breath. "I'm – I'm sorry, I -" Winter shook her head and grabbed her younger sister by the shoulder. She opened the door and began to drag her out. Qrow followed, hand on his weapon's hilt, and then Ruby and Neptune. "No, don't leave, daughter. Stay here. Winter! Weiss!" He stopped speaking when the door slammed shut in his face. The old man took a deep, staggering breath and leaned against the wall with his hands in his face.

He had not been prepared for that, for anything. He cursed himself silently for allowing his emotions to get the better of him, after all he had done to make sure such a thing never happened to his daughters. It was simply that DISC was... He stood up straight. DISC was necessary. It was the only way he would be able to defend his daughters, no matter what they believed or thought of him. As soon as something terrible happened, he would be there ready to destroy whatever evil may come. He would not rely on Huntsmen like Qrow to save him; if he became weak, the world would tip over the precarious edge and into the Darkness forever.


	28. The Past is Present

**AN:**

 **Hey!**

 **So, first I just want to do a more general response, specifically to a few people(warrior of six blades; sethman610; Kingofclubs8129): I had no clue that so many people thought that poorly of Papa Schnee. I can see where it's coming from, I guess, but even since season 1 I've never assumed he was a 'bad guy.' And Winter didn't seem like the kind to let anyone seriously hurt her little sister, especially her dad. I hope he's not evil in the show so much as just... well Weiss in the first few episodes, being all snooty and strict rather than actually nasty.**

 **To gamelover41592: Yeah, I think everyone in the story will agree with you about Blake's current hairstyle...**

 **To grimlock987: I don't have any plans for a serious Baymax appearance, but he could be one of the cameo characters in either Doctor Polendina's home/workshop or the Blue Fairy research facility when we explore it.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Yeah, I wanted Neo to survive for now so that Sora, Ruby, and the others have... mini bosses I guess for the final battle with Salem. As for how Blake'll react to Sora, I hope that this chapter starts the process okay for now.**

 **To sethman610: A lot of people have requested that idea so far, so many in fact that I've decided to add in the section of the story with a video call in the next chapter.**

 **To Guest: If I do actually follow up on the spin off idea, it'll be something pretty similar to that. The concept of the worlds is going to return, but they won't be the same Disney ones for the most part. Anime definitely and a few other ones that I'll hint at later. For now I'm just going to keep the concept open if I want to do it later.**

 **To EonGoddess: I'm glad the feels were better than I thought. Yes, the Foretellers are the previous holders of the Sora groups' Hearts, and the furthest I was going to go to confirming that was the picture Sora found in Beacon's statue. The Heartless and Nobody of Raven are going to be pretty important on the Atlas side of things. I also totally get calling her Vexran when you think of her. I thought about going with the 'traditional' naming scheme at first too, so I definitely get it. Thanks for thinking I'm a good writer, and I can't wait to see your stories, too!**

 _ **Chapter 28: The Past is Present**_

The city of Vale was full of life, a vibrant Light that dared the Darkness to try devouring it. The world was full of joy and hope on this day, the result of having risen above the destruction that had nearly ended their entire Kingdom. Beacon Academy's new location was entering its second year of life, signifying that guardians would always exist even in the darkest moments of the world. The city's repairs had finally completed their final phase, reopening entire shops and businesses that had been wiped from the map more than a year earlier. To celebrate this renaissance of their city, the Council of Vale was throwing a large festival complete with food and drink and games, with stories and actors everywhere hazarding a guess at what the brilliant light that had defeated the Dragon really was.

It was among this great festival of lights that a figure dressed in a black cloak stepped out of a column of swirling blackness at the center of an alleyway. The hooded head looked around to both the left and right, the only noise coming from the figure the slight jangling of the zippers on his coat. He had been bouncing from place to place to postpone this for a while, coming home and seeing his... former allies again. It would end with a fight, even he could see that. The figure stepped away from the swirling darkness and the energy disappeared with a _vworp_ , the gate from the region in Mistral where he had been closing with it.

After a few moments, he reached the edge of the alleyway and frowned beneath his hood. It was too much like the last time he had seen her before she died. Jaune shoved those thoughts from his mind and put his hands in his pockets before walking into the crowd. His cloak clanked slightly as he moved, a result of the armor that had been strapped onto the shoulders and torso. The armor was mainly gray, save for its silver trim and a small, golden rising sun emblem in the center of his left pauldron. The coat was fitted at the wrists so it wouldn't get in the way of his grip when he was fighting. The only thing that he still had from who he used to be was his hairstyle, his fingerless gloves, and an old and smelly pair of socks. The armor was made of a very familiar metal – the dense and powerful plate of his old shield had been useful after all, as plating over the Darkness infused main material of the Keyblade Wielder's armor.

"... heard something happened up at the old school." Jaune turned towards this conversation with renewed interest. Two men were talking in hushed tones – one an old man with gray, balding hair and the other younger with a clean mop of black. Jaune cocked his head to the side and neared them. He stopped at the stand nearest and bought a large chicken kabob that made his mouth water – a chef Salem was not.

"What was it?" the older man asked between bites of a donut.

The younger man shrugged. "No idea. But the lady I was talking to said she was hired by that Goodwitch lady to take two guys up there and then pick 'em up in a bullhead last month. Said one of 'em looked like the old Headmaster of Beacon, you know the one I'm talking about? The dead and disgraced one?" Jaune couldn't help but smile a little at that remark. Ozpin had done a lot to make himself worthy of being disgraced, after all. "The other one was a kid. Goodwitch and the guy argued a bit about taking the kid."

"When was this?"

"That light show someone set off? Not a light show," the man explained. "Explosions. The old guy and the kid came back without a scratch on 'em, which means they killed something up there. They risked waking up that dragon!"

"Pfft, yeah right," the old guy said dismissively.

Jaune believed what had been said. Ozpin and Sora were in Vale, it appeared, and going after something valuable in Beacon. But those men were right: what would be so important that Ozpin and Sora would risk waking up a huge monster that could destroy the city, murdering the entire population therein with no one capable of stopping it? Salem claimed that this Journal had abilities far above even what the Keyblade could accomplish – a gate through time. Jaune basically inhaled his kabob and walked past the pair who had begun speaking about an upcoming Huntsman Battle and who would win. He turned to walk back down the alleyway he'd arrived in and the world went black, the emptiness replacing Vale with the dimly lit Beacon Academy grounds.

The air rustled with his arrival. His presence was at once equally prey and predator to the army of Grimm that encroached on the once impregnable school's grounds. He wondered why they resisted their urge to destroy him, and suddenly realized it was because of his newfound affinity for the Darkness. They hated him and wanted to kill him because he had a Heart, but they recognized what was part of him now – that he was like them. He wasn't sure if he liked that.

That didn't explain why so few of the creatures were trying to get into the city, however. Some would probably say that whatever the Huntsmen down in Vale were doing, it kept the creatures away. Jaune was slightly more skeptical regarding the men and women's abilities against a group this size; they were far too attracted to the Dragon's comatose form to wander far. He looked over at a Beowolf that hissed angrily at him, and Jaune summoned his Keyblade in a flash of black and white. The Grimm roared angrily and leaped right towards him with claws extended, only to receive a powerful slash to the face. The creature disappeared in a burst of Black Dust that slowly rose into the sky. The remaining Grimm leered cautiously at him and the weapon in his hands. Jaune swept it out to his side, remembering a time not so long ago when creatures such as these would have presented a true challenge for him. What a different time that was, when he couldn't defend his friends.

Back when he had them. Jaune shoved this annoying voice away with the knowledge that he'd be seeing Pyrrha soon if everything went right. Anything and everything else was secondary, even if it hurt to think about that. Jaune walked forward, past the statue at the center of the front courtyard, and into the decrepit remains of the school.

As he walked through what had once been his greatest dream in the world, he could not help but reminisce on things both good and bad that happened in those halls. He clenched his fists as he thought back on Cardin Winchester and everything that idiot had done to him. He thought about Ozpin and the machine that had been at the center of all this. Then he thought about meeting Ren and Nora and all of his friends, and he missed them again. He sighed and shook his head as he walked into the atrium leading to Ozpin's office. Where she had died. Jaune stepped into the empty elevator shaft and tossed his Keyblade in front of him. It flashed and turned into a pair of wings that floated to his back. Using them, Jaune shot straight up and into the destroyed office.

He landed near the Dragon's wing and looked up at its screaming maw far above. The Keyblade returned to his hand, and Jaune began to look around for the book. It was likely that Sora and Oz had already taken the Journal, but it was worth a try at the very least in case they had to leave it behind or if Ozpin left anything else behind that could be useful. He raised his Keyblade above his head and summoned a ball of magnetic energy to lift the gears and rubble from the battles that had taken place there. He walked beneath the metal that now swirled above him and looked for any sign of this journal he could find. He crouched beside the remains of Ozpin's desk and pulled at the drawers only to come up empty. Jaune snarled and snap kicked the desk off the edge of the tower. "Dammit," he snapped. He stood up and watched it tumble through the air, landing right in the center of...

Jaune stood up and cocked his head to the side. The area around the statue was completely devoid of Grimm, as if they were avoiding it. Jaune looked over his shoulder one more time to see if anything called to him, then stepped off of the tower's edge. The wind whipped around him, causing his hair to fly away from his calm features. He wanted away from this place and the memories that came with it; they made it hard to do what he needed to do. The Keyblade Wielder landed on the ground with a heavy thud, causing stone and dust to fly up around him. A few brave – or stupid – Grimm rushed him and he sent them to oblivion without a second look. He walked into the empty circle and raised his Keyblade towards the statue. A ball of Light appeared at the tip, swirling with power, then shot from the tip of the Keyblade in a thin stream of white energy. There was a loud and clear _click_ , and the Grimm at the base slid to the side, revealing a small hole in the statue.

The young man walked forward and dismissed his weapon so he could reach in with both hands. He took from the opening a small metal box. He flicked it open and looked inside. No book. Jaune growled and nearly tossed the box away before seeing something else. A Keychain that was sliding across the metal with every movement. He picked it up, ignoring the picture, and then tossed the box to the side. The picture's frame shattered from the impact, but Jaune did not hear. He was too busy studying the Keychain he had found. Gray and Green – obviously it belonged to Ozpin at one point in time. He thought about destroying the weapon's Heart, but decided against it. Salem had said doing something like that had the capability to release an astronomical amount of energy, energy that if used correctly could begin the process of resuscitating the Dragon for the next phase of Salem's plan. Something that would be meaningless if she did not have the book in her hands. The young man pocketed the Keychain and spun on his heel, disappearing into a portal of Darkness.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Qrow flipped the page of the magazine over and clicked his tongue. "These are short skirts in Atlas? Come on, I've seen pants that show more skin," he grumbled in annoyance. He sighed and tossed the magazine away before reaching to grab a weapons based one. As he leaned forward, he caught Winter staring icy daggers at him. "Is there a problem, Ice Queen?"

"You're acting like a lewd child," she snapped from where she sat at full attention, back straighter than the wall itself was. Qrow just raised his eyebrows and scoffed at the woman before leaning back. "I – Don't ignore me!"

"I don't know if doing that's possible when you're so damn loud," Qrow muttered. The temperature in the room dropped and the Huntsman looked nervously up at the Specialist. "I mean, um, you just seem more uptight than usual ever since we talked with your father. I didn't think you _could_ be more uptight, but there you go proving me wrong!" Winter growled at Qrow, her mood worsening again. "Oh, come on, I've already embarrassed you in front of your dad. I've already embarrassed you in front of your boss when I beat you in that fight at the Vytal Festiv...al... -" Winter's eyes widened with pure, unadulterated murder and Qrow laughed nervously. "Ever since we, er, fought at the Vytal Festival... Look, the way I see it, expectations for me are probably so low that I'll impress them next time I see them. Besides, Jimmy and me have been... well, not friends I guess, but we've known each other longer than you've been a Huntress, Ice Queen."

"The General would accept nothing less than one's best," Winter snapped to reject his statement. She crossed her legs and looked away from the scythe wielder.

"Yeah, you're right," Qrow acquiesced. His grin turned wicked. "General Jimmy's just realized this is the best that I'm willing to offer."

"That's not true," Winter admonished angrily. She pointed at Qrow. "I'm not the only one who has been acting odd since the meeting with my father. Before that, you were acting much more mature. Now you're acting like... Like..."

"A drunkard, right?"

"That's not wrong..." Qrow didn't respond to that. Winter sighed a moment later and walked over to sit beside her ally and take a different path towards getting him to open up. "Until our meeting with him, a part of me had believed that my father would not engage in such a despicable act as aiding in the creation of DISC. It made logical sense, of course. There was no one else with the resources or ingenuity to create such a device. I... I _knew_ that it was him. But I did not believe it. His reaction confirmed my fears and it hurts me still." Qrow at her over his magazine. "I am not angry that you embarrassed me, Qrow. I am angry that _he_ embarrassed me. His Sins are mine to make up for, and I don't know if I could ever make up for one as deep as that." She fell silent and leaned forward where she sat, placing her elbows on her knees and clasping her hands in front of her face.

Qrow broke the silence some time later. "Nothing he does is on you. On your name, maybe, I won't deny that. But never on you, Ice Queen," Qrow said kindly. Even the old insult sounded more like an affectionate nickname now. He reached over and pulled Winter's chin up and towards him with the knuckle of his right index finger. He had a kind and quiet smile on his face, one that looked natural on him despite his usual sarcastic sneer. "And even if they were yours, you'd redeem every one of them." He flicked his wrist and his finger rapped lightly against her nose, making her jump back. Qrow grinned at her but didn't lean away. "Mopey isn't a good look on you, Ice Queen. Stick with arrogant, at least then you're closer to the mark on how good you are."

Winter gulped when she recognized how close their faces were to one another. It was odd – she had been secretly hoping to be this close to him for a while now. Yet now she found she could not do anything about it or act on her thoughts at all. "Why are are you acting differently, then?" she inquired suddenly, though she did not move, still paralyzed by fear.

Qrow scoffed and leaned back slightly. He broke eye contact and stared up at the ceiling. "Let's just say I've got unresolved issues, Ice Queen. Girl broke my heart, died, didn't die. Crazy stuff."

"Why would my father and a woman from your past be connected like that?" Winter inquired worriedly. She placed her hand on Qrow's bicep and clenched it lightly. Qrow blushed and let his pupil fall to the corner of his eye to catch Winter's. "What?"

"I -" He was cut off by the sudden opening of the door to General Ironwood's office.

"Thank you for your time, General, but if you tell me you know nothing about this it is either because you are grossly ignorant or you're lying to me," a man's voice came from the doorway. He exited, followed quickly by the general. This man was about six foot three, with armor adorning his shoulders and chest. A silver, rising sun was present on his left pauldron and was nearly invisible against the white. The armor rested over a skin tight black fabric that was tucked into a pair of gray cargo pants, themselves tucked into black combat boots. The man's hands were covered with a pair of black and silver, fingerless gloves balled up into fists. A messy mop of long, blonde hair outlined his face and the scars that covered it, though many were hidden by the beard that matched his hair save for a few strands of silvery gray that peeked out. "And either way, it is an insult to my intelligence."

He looked over at the two in the waiting room. "Qrow? Am I interrupting your time with this..." the man raised a distasteful eyebrow. "... Atlesian Specialist?"

"Argent," Qrow said, hiding a grimace. He wasn't sure what to do with the man. Qrow after all knew where Argent's kid was... metaphorically speaking. He didn't have time to think this one over, at the moment. "Nope, you're not. Not doing anything here." Qrow stood up and walked over to Argent, leaving behind a flustered and silent Winter Schnee. "What are you doing here, Argent?"

"I could ask the same of you, Kid," the older Huntsman replied. Argent crossed his arms and blinked once. "Oz's death must've hit you pretty hard if you ran all the way to Atlas."

Qrow fell quiet and shook his head. "I'm trying to keep something bad from happening, and Jimmy's my best chance at that."

"Well, good luck then," Arc said with a shrug. He looked over his shoulder at where Ironwood was looking at some files. "He's busy denying everything for which the Vale Council has actionable intel." He gave Qrow a nod of goodbye. "Qrow, come see me if you need any help. I'll talk with you later." He looked past him. "Specialist." Then he walked away, sword jangling on his hip.

"Qrow, Winter," Ironwood said, looking up from his intelligence. He placed his Scroll down and motioned for them to come in. Qrow looked over at Winter, who was now standing beside him, and was back to her angry, serious self. They walked in together. "What do you need?"

"I need you to tell me everything you know about DISC, and don't lie to me like you did with Argent," Qrow demanded, having quickly deduced what he had spoken with the other Huntsman about. Ironwood's face hardened. "It needs to be destroyed."

"Get him out of here," Ironwood commanded the Specialist. Qrow looked over, half expecting her to do so. Instead, she just remained perfectly still where she was. Ironwood glanced angrily over at her. "That was an order." She continued to stand still, causing Ironwood to laugh dryly. "Who are you and what have you done with Winter?"

"Sir, I believe what Qrow is asking is in both the best interest of this Kingdom and every other one. Where is the DISC?" she asked quietly. Qrow was a little taken aback that she'd say it that bluntly too.

Ironwood thought about denying he knew anything, but sighed instead. "Blue Fairy. There's no point in denying it, not to you two."

"So destroy it. It's terrible you would even consider using it -"

"I would never!" Ironwood snapped. He slammed his palms on his desk and surged to his feet and glared at the warrior in front of him. "I have been doing _nothing_ but trying to keep it from happening since I learned about it. You know I would never agree to something so stupid and dishonorable. The ends do not always justify the means." He looked down and fell back into his chair. "Besides, I do not have control over Blue Fairy. That... 'honor' belongs to one of more import than I."

"Excuse me, Sir, but who has control over it, then?" Winter inquired. She clasped her hands behind her back and stood at attention, expecting no answer but hoping for one.

Ironwood looked over at Winter. "I'm sure you both already know the answer to that question."

Qrow looked at her with worry in his Heart. "Ice Queen..." He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Winter shrugged it off. "Damn it, Father," she growled to herself, retreating into an icy shell. "Further the Sins you would have us inherit."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Morrigan jumped through the sky, soaring between the two buildings in the commercial district of Atlas' capital city. She summoned her blade into her hand and stabbed it into the metal, windowless side of a particularly tall building, then used the handle to spin up and crouch on its flat. She cocked her head to the side and glared down at her prey dozens of feet below. She really was lucky that no one ever bothered looking up, else this stalking would have been ended long ago.

The young blonde woman was talking with three other people about her age, one with long white hair dressed in the same color, another with a head of blue wearing red, and the last with red and black hair and a long red cape. Their names went through Morrigan's head for a moment before she shoved them away as extraneous data. Her only concern lay with killing the young blonde woman and purifying her own weakness.

Perhaps once the girl was dead, she would be able to destroy the creature hunting her as well...

She shut her eyes while trying to forget that moment, but it still played out in her mind. As soon as the black monster had grabbed onto her, she had been dragged through a portal of total Darkness. She could see nothing and hear nothing beyond the creature itself, the red blades of its arms frantically trying to bury themselves in her body. She had been barely able to stop every attack, her blade moving more by instinct and luck than true skill in such close quarters. It was not until the monster had dragged her out of the portal that she truly had a chance to do battle with it.

"What are you?" Morrigan had snapped upon rolling across the grass and to her feet. She raised her sword in front of her and glared at the creature. It slowly stood up to its full height and stretching its wings out to their full span. It shrieked again and rushed towards Morrigan to swing both of its blades at her head. She had slashed around in response and both of the red blades were buried in the ground. She used this connection point to spin around and deliver a powerful ax kick to the back of the monster's head.

Morrigan backflipped away after landing the blow and raised her blade to her shoulder, tip aimed directly at the creature. The monster pulled its head from the ground and looked directly at Morrigan with its yellow, hate filled eyes. The long, bony beak of the monster clicked before opening in a loud shriek. The powerful legs of the creature tensed for a moment and it leaped at Morrigan. She raised her weapon and let the monster crash into it, locking their blades together so she could get a closer look. A flicker of recognition ran through the Nobody's eyes as she and the creature studied one another. "Heh. Raven. I was wondering where you'd gone," Raven scoffed. The creature did not respond, though the yellow orbs floating in its shadowy skull turned red for a moment. Morrigan bathed her weapon in a bright red flame and shoved off from the monster. The flames traveled forward and exploded against the Heartless' chest even as Morrigan twirled to a safe distance. "Perhaps your destruction will be the first step on my journey to being whole."

The monster shrieked again, its claws pointed directly towards the Nobody and its wings raised far above its head. Its roar ran unabated for over five minutes. "Impressive," Morrigan taunted, somehow sure that whatever remained of Raven's weakness could hear her. "But you are no -" The creature turned suddenly and Morrigan could no longer sense the remains of Raven Xiao Long within it. The beak clicked and a small chirp came out before a portal of Darkness appeared in the creature's chest and it was sucked away, leaving Morrigan alone.

The Nobody had stood up and looked around, seeing nothing but an empty cabin in the woods.

But that was then, and this was now. Yang Xiao Long was below and attacking her would likely only attract the Heartless again. It was better for Morrigan to bide her time and find the ideal moment to kill the girl in a single blow rather than risk Raven's return. She let her eyes wander downward and she frowned. Someone else was stalking her quarry it seemed. She stood up straight and jumped across the street, plummeting towards the building below. She summoned a portal of Darkness in her path and appeared silently behind this other spy.

It was a man. He looked about his early to mid twenties, with hair that was streaks of pitch and fire dancing between each other. His shoulders were covered in a deep black suit jacket, with the back covered in an intricate, wilting rose. A sword and scabbard hung from a balled up black fist. Morrigan cocked her head to the side when the skin of the arm suddenly flared like a black flame. The man turned his head slightly, as if he had heard Morrigan's appearance, and the woman hurriedly summoned a shadowy mask to her face. "Who are you?" the man asked. His eyes were hidden behind a white bone mask, and a pair of well hidden black horns protruded from his scalp – a Faunus. Morrigan frowned behind her mask; this was Adam Taurus. His name ignited memories of intense rage, though not the hatred itself anymore. It was lucky Morrigan replaced her mask, or he would have attacked her as soon as he saw her face. "Well?"

Morrigan looked over the edge of the building at Yang playing around with her sister and friends. She clenched her fist and narrowed her red eyes on the blonde. "A fellow hunter of the things important to Raven Xiao Long."

Yang, meanwhile, was busy enjoying her time with her sister and the friend with whom she had been recently reunited. "And then our dad punched the dog so hard Zwei turned into a fire ball and slammed into the evil witch's stupid hair!" Yang shouted, punching in front of her excitedly.

"You let him turn your adorable little puppy into a weapon!?" Weiss shouted, aghast at the very idea of it. She reached suddenly into Ruby's pack and pulled the dog out, hugging him tightly. She began to speak to the animal like he was a baby. "Oh, wittle guy, I'm so sowwy, I'll pwotect you fwom dose evil peopwe."

Yang elbowed the blue haired boy in the ribs and laughed. "Is that still attractive?" Yang joked to Neptune.

"Honestly, yes," Neptune said as he stared at Weiss. He grimaced in shame. "And I wonder what that says about me..." He looked over at Weiss, who had somehow managed to dress the now whining and annoyed dog in a tiny suit. Neptune teared up. "Why is that attractive too?" he whined.

"I don't know, but Zwei isn't happy about it," Ruby pointed out. The dog was currently trying to eat his way out of the white suit, only to be stopped every time when Weiss began to toss him into the air, catch him, and then embrace him tighter than a bear hug. She ignored the annoyed yipping in her ear every time and proceeded to dance down the street with the dog. "Dogs have always been her weakness. Probably because her dad never got her one."

"Okay, now I'm starting to feel ignored," Neptune muttered when Weiss' act with the dog entered its fifth, uninterrupted minute. Ruby patted him on the back before dashing forward and rescuing her dog from Weiss' assault. Zwei whined appreciatively and nuzzled into his owner's arms, leaving behind a crying Weiss.

"He's my dog!" Ruby shouted when Weiss reached out to steal Zwei back. Ruby hugged the dog and twisted away to protect him from her partner. "Stop attacking him!"

"I just want to love him!" Weiss snapped. She stomped her foot aggressively and pouted like any good and insulted heiress would.

"It's okay, Weiss," Neptune said, coming up behind her to give her a comforting hug. "I know... she's mean."

Ruby gasped at the insult. "Hey!" she muttered indignantly.

Yang took the dog from her sister and began undressing him. "I'm sorry, buddy," she said as she tossed the last of the dog clothes – which probably cost more than her outfit – to the ground. The blonde scratched behind Zwei's ears and smiled. "It'll be okay, Zwei, we'll just never let her play with you ever again." That elicited more dense tears from Weiss. Yang sighed sympathetically, then looked down at her dog with an apology in her eyes. "Usually..." Zwei glared over at Weiss angrily and was stolen away a moment later by the heiress. Thankfully, it was much less aggravating for the dog this time: Weiss only scratched softly behind his ears.

"So... talk to Sora recently?" Neptune asked to break the silence.

"He called me late last night to say they found a lead on Blake, but I haven't heard anything since," Ruby supplied with a shrug and frown. "I did have this weird dream about him last night, though..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Yang shouted. She elbowed her sister's shoulder and grinned mockingly. "You're not allowed to talk about stuff like that in public!"

Ruby blushed and shook her head vigorously. "N-no, I... I don't mean like that!" Her voice cracked and her gaze fell to the ground. She pulled her hood over her head and whimpered in embarrassment while her elder sister laughed boisterously at her. "Yang..."

"Oh, I'm just kidding," Yang said comfortingly. She placed her arm around the Keyblade Wielder's shoulders. "It's not like I heard you go, 'Oh Sora!'"

"Yang!" Ruby shouted, shoving her sister with her still occasionally surprising strength. The brawler flew away from Ruby and crashed into a building across the street. The younger girl yelped in surprise and ran over. "Yang, I'm sorry!"

"Woo! That got my blood pumping, Little Sis!" the blonde shouted excitedly. She pushed herself to her feet and glared down at her sister. "Oh we are sparring later; I want to see just how strong my baby sis has become!"

Suddenly Yang went silent and cocked her head to the side. "What is it, Yang?" Weiss asked when she and Neptune crossed the street.

"That's Doctor Polendina," the bombshell stated. She pointed directly across the street at a rotund man walking away from a short, unassuming building.

"The world's top robotics expert coming out of a place that sells hammers, nails, and 2 by 4's?" Neptune inquired bluntly. He shook his head. "I don't know if I buy that he wants to do some home improvements that much."

"He lives in one the nicest military apartments in the Kingdom," Weiss pointed out. "He couldn't do wooden home improvements there even if he wanted to." The three of them all turned to look directly at Ruby.

"W-what?" Ruby asked dumbly.

"Well you have something that opens _any_ door," Yang pointed out.

"You're fast enough nobody would see you," Weiss tacked on.

"And we really want to know what's in there," Neptune finished.

"But Qrow and Winter said I shouldn't risk letting people know about the Keyblade!" Ruby hissed, terrified that – for once – she had to be the voice of reason. "Am I – Am I really the one who thinks this is a bad idea?"

Yang shrugged. "Chicken."

"God, fine," Ruby muttered, and she disappeared in a flash of red, running through the door that someone had just opened, and around the entire building until she found a door with only a key card reader . The Keyblade appeared in her hand and flashed, the card reader flashing with the same ruby red. The door slid open, and Ruby walked through the door while dismissing her Keyblade – no point risking things further.

She was in a long hallway which was, as was far too usual in Atlas, pure white. "Do they have any other colors in this Kingdom?" Ruby muttered sarcastically as she reached the first junction in the hallway. She looked to her right and saw a series of doors each with a serial number above them, then to the left to see an identical hallway. She shrugged and continued to go straight. She passed a dozen intersections before coming to a stairway. Ruby slowly opened the door and jumped down the stairwell to see how far she could go. She landed without a noise more than two dozen flights down and walked into the next room.

She looked around in confusion; the only other things in the room were two simple doors, almost identical. She shrugged and walked towards the right one on a whim. "BF-0705. Hm..." She looked around cautiously and reached out to touch the door with her right hand.

"Warning: Restricted Access." Ruby turned around and nearly jumped out of her skin when a metallic figure dropped from the ceiling. The young woman resisted the powerful urge to summon Crescent Rose and instead let BF-0705 shut behind her.

"Hello!" Ruby said nervously. She took a step towards the crouching figure. "Who are you?"

"Vocal Identification... Unknown. Intruder alert." Ruby frowned... why was that voice familiar? The figure stood up to full height and Ruby's eyes widened fearfully. The robot was about the same height as Ruby and looked human in shape. Bright green eyes glared emotionlessly out from the robot's skull, and Ruby suddenly understood why the voice was so familiar. "Objective, Terminate."

"P-Penny!" Ruby shouted somewhere between excited and worried. She took another step forward. "Penny, is that -" The robot widened its stance and shivered before a dozen razor sharp and incredibly familiar swords on strings extended from her back. "Penny, it is you!" One of the swords lashed out at Ruby, and she turned up the speed to dodge behind her robotic friend. "Penny, how is this possible!?" The swords crashed into where she was standing again, but Ruby had already run off again. "Penny! Penny, it's Ruby!"

"Identification logged." The android said before its voice changed suddenly to be Ruby's. "It's Ruby!"

Ruby grimaced. "That's my voice?" she asked. Ruby shook her head. "They say nobody likes recordings of their voices." She effortlessly jumped out of the way of the next attack and grimaced. She couldn't summon her Keyblade here if she wanted the Schnee father to not find out – not that she even wanted to summon it. She could really hurt Penny if she did that! Ruby sighed and decided on the only available course of action. She frowned at the ground. "I'll be back for you, Penny. I promise." Then she turned around and ran into the stairway, the robot hot on her heels. Ruby tensed her legs up for a moment and shot up in a torpedo of roses, finally getting more than two dozen stories of distance between her and the android. Ruby landed without a noise and ran out of the research base at a full sprint.

"GUYS WE GOTTA GO!" Ruby shouted. She grabbed her three friends by the arms and pulled them along fast enough to give them each massive whiplash if they didn't have powerful Auras. Before anyone could ask another question about it, Ruby set her jaw and cut them off. "We need to talk to Doctor Polendina about how Penny's down there!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Twelve hours and a couple calls to Ruby after rescuing Blake, both halves of their group were all caught up with events. Yang and Blake had yet to see or talk to each other, but they had a group wide video call scheduled for that weekend. For now, everyone besides Ruby and Sora only had information from a few snippets of conversation and the videos Yang had sent them of Neptune freaking out near water to the sound of music. It was amazing.

"So how long are you going to be blonde?" Sora asked suddenly as he took a break from watching Ozpin try to teach Blake how to use magic. He placed his hands on his feet, which were placed sole to sole in front of him as he sat. The cat Faunus stopped trying to channel any arcane energies and glared over at Sora dryly, as if to ask if he was seriously asking such a pointless question. "Really, because... It just... It just doesn't fit. Yang and Ruby'll agree with me. Maybe not Weiss, but I've never met her so I wouldn't know about that."

Blake shook her head. She'd already seen him fight, and he was capable of seeing through what he described as the most realistic representation of what he wanted most in the world. So he was strong and smart. But he kept acting like a five year old sometimes! The Faunus laughed inwardly; he and Ruby deserved each other. "A month or two. It's long lasting, so I didn't have to worry about applying it all the time," she explained. She sheathed Gambol Shroud on her back and walked over to sit beside him so he could take his turn sparring with Ozpin. The headmaster himself was currently taking his Scroll out and answering a call, so they had some time.

"We haven't talked much yet, have we?" Sora asked. He took his clasped hands off of his feet and smiled over at the Faunus. She sighed and pulled out her book. She wasn't much for dealing with new people.

"It's not that weird," Blake muttered calmly. She wished someone she was more comfortable around was there. Sora may have saved her life, but she new next to nothing about him yet. Of course, the best way to fix that would be to talk to him, but she didn't really know him yet so... She'd rather avoid this specific circuit of thought. "We've only known each other for about a day, after all." She fell quiet and hoped that Sora wouldn't try to say anything to her from then on. Maybe with everyone else around she'd feel better about talking to him. Or maybe not?

Sora frowned and looked back down at his feet. He wanted to make her more comfortable around him. Sora glanced over at Blake nervously, and upon catching sight of the novel in her hands the former Keyblade Wielder grimaced. " _The Key of Destiny_... That's an... interesting book."

"You've read it?" Blake asked in surprise. Sora didn't seem the sit down and read a thousand page book with entire section that read more like a science textbook than a story. She coughed nervously and hoped that he didn't take the surprise in her voice as an insult. "I, erm... I just mean, it's a very rare book."

Sora nodded. "Yeah, it is," he said. Blake breathed a sigh of relief – he wasn't offended. It was like he didn't even... notice... Blake almost fell face first into the open book when she realized he really hadn't noticed. "It's also, heh...about me." Blake raised one incredulous eyebrow. "No, really, I'm not lying! I know it sounds impossible, but..."

"There are many impossible things in the world of Remnant. Headmaster Ozpin is apparently an immortal wizard, so I'm willing to believe in time travel," Blake stated. She folded up the book and looked down at the cover. If this were true, then it was possible that Sora really _had_ known the Golden Mouse, one of her greatest heroes! _Don't blow this..._ "But I would appreciate hearing the story from the hero himself. The, uh, book isn't very specific."

Sora's smile widened. "Ask away!" he shouted. He was obviously glad to find some way to connect with the Faunus and show he was a good guy.

Blake smiled appreciatively and asked her first question: "So... these Keyblades. What are they?"

Sora frowned and looked over at Ozpin before deciding how he'd answer the question. "They're... Hearts. Everyone else knows, so I don't think Ozpin'll be angry if I tell you," Sora explained. Blake wondered what he could mean by that. "Ozpin's ex-girlfriend, I think, she made them. Apparently by shattering strong Hearts she was able to create the first Keyblades. Other times, when trauma breaks people's Hearts, they can... grow from it. The Heart is healed and the old pieces, when there's enough, become a Keyblade. But not everyone can use one, and even among those who can use one, not everyone gets one. Either you're chosen by an existing Keyblade, or a Keyblade Wielder chooses you as their heir, or... you make one." He coughed nervously.

"Where is the one from the book?" Blake asked. She turned the book over and gestured at the gold and silver design on the cover. "Your Keyblade?"

Sora laughed once. "You like the hard questions, don't you?" he joked. Blake blushed, but remained adamant in the query. Sora smiled and nodded supportively to the Faunus. "Good. It's apparently one of the two strongest Keyblades once it's potential is unlocked. Anyways, it's not really mine. Salem, Ozpin's crazy ex, made it, and it listens to her before it listens to me. She took it and – made me try to kill Ruby and used it to kill Yang's mom."

"Yang's mom..?" Blake asked. Yang hadn't mentioned that in their call – she hadn't even mentioned that her mother was alive! "I... Why didn't she tell me?"

"Oh... she probably just wanted you not to worry about her," Sora explained for Ruby's sister. "You don't want to tell your best friends bad news right when you see them again, right?" Blake nodded, but still seemed worried that her friend had yet to forgive her. Sora decided to take her mind off the topic. "So, next question?"

Blake nodded silently for a while. "Okay," she said haltingly. She looked back up at Sora. "Tell me about your friends."

Sora smiled and nodded. "Hm... Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey. They were my best friends," Sora said. He looked up at the sky and leaned back until he collapsed in the cool grass of the Emerald Forest. "Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were... great. Mickey Mouse was a fighter, and would do anything it took to do the right thing, even if it meant leaving the people and places he loved. He was...more animal-like than Faunus. He was a three foot tall mouse with a Keyblade, so he was really cool. He helped teach me how to be a Keyblade Master! His best friends – and two of mine – were Donald Duck and Goofy Goof. They're like Mickey – except one was a duck and the other was a dog, like I said when we saved you. Donald was a wizard, and he knew magic better than anyone except wizards like Oz or Yen Sid. And Goofy was a Knight who didn't believe in using swords or any type of weapon except a shield, but that didn't stop him from destroying Heartless left and right!" He smiled fondly as he remembered his best friends, and it quickly became sheepish. "They were always reminding me not to let anyone know there were other worlds..."

Sora laughed it off a moment later. "Wasn't very good at that, it turns out! Anyways, Kairi was a girl I knew growing up. She, uh, looked a bit like Ruby and acted like her too. More timid, though, but she didn't grow up fighting monsters so..." Sora laughed nervously and sat up. Blake was staring at him intently, listening to his stories. "And Riku. He was quiet and kind of angry sometimes. But he... he was great. My best of best friends since I was a little kid... and my rival, I guess. He was always better at things than I was. Fighting, talking, Keyblades. He was great. He took Darkness, which is... evil in almost anyone's hands, and he used it to save the World. It takes a level head to do stuff like that, and I always looked up to him for being able to do that." Sora smiled and leaned back on his open palms. He smiled fondly and said, "I really miss them..."

His face lit up a moment later. "What about you? What's your story?" Sora asked. "I kind of always got the feeling from Ruby and the others that it was kind of a secret." He smiled kindly before hurriedly adding on. "N-not to be pushy or anything!"

"Well, if Ruby, Yang, Sun, and Headmaster Ozpin trust you, then I suppose there is literally no reason for me not to," Blake said, conceding defeat. "I'm... What do you know about the White Fang?"

"Probably what most people know," Sora said after a moment of looking at the sky. He turned his gaze back to Blake. "They used to be a group of people who wanted the world to be better, until about five years ago. Someone else took over, the guy who hurt Yang. Ever since then, they've been more like terrorists than heroes. I miss anything?"

Blake frowned. "That's pretty much it," she agreed, her voice gaining an angry edge. Sora raised a confused eyebrow. "I was there, since the beginning. Raised in it." Blake brought her knees up to her chest and let her chin and forearms rest atop them. "I was, I guess you'd say 'involved' with Adam, the current leader. He was my mentor and... more." She grew quiet and angry.

"Are you okay?" Sora inquired. Blake looked over sadly. "I'm... I'm sorry. You don't have to answer any more than that." Blake was a little astounded by the young man's behavior. She'd said that she had been a member of a group now known for killing thousands and he didn't even bat an eye.

"Don't you hate me?" Blake asked.

"Why? Ruby and Yang didn't," Sora replied simply. Blake smiled at that. No, they hadn't. "And besides, my friend Riku came back from worse. And Jaune will too. So, even if you eventually try to destroy the universe, you still won't be able to claim you're beyond redemption."

Blake snickered. "Fine," she said as her laughter died down. She was starting to understand just why Ruby was so attached to this boy. He was maybe too trusting. Blake put her hand on Sora's shoulder and smiled at him. "Thank you. Ruby and you are perfect for each other."

"Ah, I'm lucky to have her," Sora said sheepishly, turning ruby red as he did.

That was when Ozpin walked over. Sora frowned and placed his hands back on the grass. "Are... are you okay?" he asked. The old warrior was pale as snow and his hands were trembling.

"I'm afraid training for now will have to end. There are pressing concerns I must deal with," Ozpin explained with a forced calm.

"What happened?" Blake asked.

"The Spring Maiden was murdered. Salem has three of the four now," Ozpin explained to the air. He looked over at Sora and clenched his jaw. "She is one step away from having everything she needs to enact the world's destruction."

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _Seven Years Before the First Great Keyblade War_

Skye stood on amidst the meadow that overlooked Daybreak Town, stretching as he prepared to go out on his journey into the World to find the Adversary. It was going to be a long time before he saw home or any of his friends again, so he was really just stalling before he had to leave. He'd left as soon as he'd given his friends their books and Keyblades; he didn't want to say good bye to any of them or risk revealing who the traitor was. Besides, they all looked really silly in their new animal getups and he could barely hold back the laughter that rose in his chest every time he saw them. It was better than the tears he got when he thought about how they were going to try to kill each other from here on out. He wanted to be alone. Apparently Mark – _Ira_ , he admonished himself – didn't get the message.

"Ira," Skye said as he continued to stretch, using the Keyblade's many powers to sound more like Oz. He glanced over his shoulder at the warrior dressed up like a white and blue unicorn and immediately almost broke into laughter. He somehow managed to fight it off, mostly because Oz and the others thought they all looked intimidating and cool. Still, all Skye could see was his friends with weird masks. He cleared his throat to get rid of this train of thought. "What is it?"

"I wish to speak with you about the book you gave us," Ira explained. The wind picked up, whipping about Skye's coat and Ira's cloak with its force.

 _Figures he's already read it,_ Skye joked to himself. "What about?" Skye feigned ignorance.

Ira growled in annoyance. "A few things... Why didn't Sk- Luxu get one?" Ira asked first.

Skye laughed. The renaming them confused them all too? Good. "He's not like you," Skye said, enjoying a chance to praise himself in front of his rival without being perceived as arrogant. "His path is different."

"You trust him more than us. We do not deserve to be treated so low just because he was your first student!" Ira snapped, his anger at being overlooked evident. Skye growled to himself and continued to stretch. _Way to blow a gasket, Ira_. "Apologies, Master, but I... We are all worried. He did not receive a Mark of Mastery with us and we have not seen him since. We merely wish to know what it is you did not give us in the books."

Skye shrugged. "Nothing too important," he lied. She placed his hands on his hips. "I gave you everything you need." That wasn't a lie, if Oz was right.

Ira scoffed, but went along with it. "Fine... But what of this Keyblade War? It... it will end _everything_?"

"Yup," Skye said, hoping he sounded nonchalant.

Apparently he did, because Ira growled angrily before sighing and trying to sound deferential. "I-isn't it our duty, as Keyblade Wielders, to prevent this war from taking place?" he begged, sounding sorrowful.

Skye remembered what Oz had said. "N-Nope. No, not possible," he said hurriedly. Ira went silent for a long time and Skye wondered if he'd revealed too much.

"I don't believe that." Skye let out a small sigh of relief and turned around to look at the other warrior. Ira was staring resolutely at the man he believed to be Ozpin. "I will achieve my goal, no matter what. Not even you know everything, Master. Your prophecies will not all come true."

Skye nodded. He turned around and picked up a puffy dandelion and raised it in front of his hooded face. "This world is... full of Light..." Skye sighed and walked up to the edge of the cliff, dropping the dandelion into the strengthening breeze to fly away as he did. "Make no mistake, Ira. Darkness will prevail, and Light expire. War or no, my job's up. I lost everything for it, so you kids can do it yourself now."

"Then you are no master of mine," Ira growled, his wrath shining through. He summoned his Keyblade, and Skye wondered for a moment if the white haired warrior was going to attack him. Ira didn't look sure for a moment, until he turned away and used his Keyblade to summon a portal of Light. Ira cast one last glance over his shoulder. "Coward." Then he walked through the gate and left Skye alone.

"I hope you're better at this than I am," Skye muttered. He pulled his hood down and looked over at where Oz was hiding.

The elder warrior pulled down his own hood and approached with a smirk on his face. "Nonsense, you were amazing. Ira didn't expect anything," Ozpin said. He placed his hand on his student's shoulder. "I'm sorry you have to do this, but it's only until they have become who they must."

"Doesn't make it easier. I want to trust them."

"I wish you could. Maybe the world could be saved, then," Ozpin stated hollowly. He looked out over the city and took his glasses from his face with his right hand. He held them out to his student. "I want you to have these. I keep pushing them onto my face when they slide, and... well, it's a dead giveaway."

Skye laughed and took the glasses from his mentor. "I don't think they'll fit my style," he said, but he nonetheless pocketed them. The two men stood silently beside one another for a while, ignoring the pregnant silence.

"I'm gonna miss you, Ozpin. I know it's what has to happen, and I don't like that, but I trust you. You wouldn't do anything this drastic without a really good reason," Skye finally said. He turned to Oz and wrapped his arms around the man's neck in a hug. "You're the best friend anyone could ask for, Ozpin."

Ozpin smiled and hugged his student back. "It's Oz to my friends," he finally admitted. He pushed his student to arm's length. "I just wish I could see you show the World who you are. It's going to be too long before I get to see." The warrior took a step back and glanced at the ground. "It's time for you to go."

"I know," Skye muttered. He pulled his hood back up and summoned his Keyblade to his hand.

"You decide on a name, yet?" Ozpin asked, another way to keep his student from leaving.

"Not yet," Skye said. He looked down at the weapon in his hand before summoning a swirl of Light to the tip. The energy shot from the Keyblade and tore open a swirling vortex of Light in front of the two. "I didn't get a name or animal like the others did, so no 'Righteous Wrath' or 'Serpent's Bite' for me. Only a matter of time, though. Right?"

"I'm sure," Ozpin said with a grin.

Skye looked at Oz one more time. "See you soon." Then he jumped off of the cliff and soared through the portal.

Ozpin nodded. "See you soon."


	29. Emotional Flux

**AN:**

 **To Sethman610: I forgot to answer this question last chapter. I don't have any plans for Keyblades showing up in Weiss, Blake, or Yang's hands, but once Sora meets up with them all and has the time, he'll make Wayfinders for them.**

 **To Kingofclubs8129: Thanks. The wait is over!**

 **To Guest: Yeah, I know the Sora and Blake convo was not long enough, but there should be more once things calm down again. As for the wait for the new game, damn it feels like it's been a thousand years already. And they just keep pushing it back... Ugh! I hope it actually gets released on its next expected date.**

 **To gamelover41592: Thanks. I love Zwei, too!**

 **To warrior of six blades: Yeah, Jaune's pretty misguided right now, but he'll get snapped out of it eventually. That said, he's not all the way gone even now. Morrigan's life hasn't played out yet; she's still got a lot of mileage left, but so does Yang of course. I'm glad you like the parts with Skye and Oz; I love trying to figure out ways for these two universe's pasts to click.**

 _ **Chapter 29: Emotional Flux**_

Blake was incredibly nervous, for many, many reasons. Not the least of which was learning that Cinder and her boss were apparently only a single murder away from destroying the world. Of course, then there was also the fact that Neo was still at large and Adam was no doubt still looking for her, which would be much easier now that she was with Sora and Ozpin on their adventure to save the world. And then there was the big one – Yang. Sun saw how she was starting to get nervous and shook her softly by the shoulders. She looked over and he gave her a cocky smile that said everything would be alright. It calmed her nerves a little. And she smiled back. "This is Yang we're talking about, Blake," the monkey Faunus said. He elbowed her lightly and grinned. "She'll probably make fun of you before anything else." The Faunus lit up. "Speaking of! Neptune! Guys – can we play the video Yang sent... _in front of him_?"

"No," Ozpin muttered as he prepared the large Scroll for their video conference.

"Please?" Sun begged the ancient wizard. "Bright spot in dark times!"

Ozpin glared at the young man over his glasses. "Or not," Sun muttered in a defeated tone. He grimaced nervously and scratched the back of his head. "So, uh... Sora! You excited to see Ruby again?"

The blue eyed boy smiled dreamily at that. "Yep. We haven't spoken all that much, even since I've woken up, so a longer conversation will be great," he said excitedly.

"Whoa there, Tiger," Nora snorted. She giggled and punched Sora in the arm. "Take it easy."

"Ha ha," Sora muttered painfully. He rubbed his shoulder to calm the blooming bruise he had just received from the berserker before he broke out into actual laughter.

"And we should focus first on the issues that have arisen recently," Ozpin explained. He walked over to the couch and sat down next to the others.

"I know a lot of bad stuff is happening, Oz, but that's exactly why we're so excited to see everybody!" Sora exclaimed.

"Banzai," Blake agreed, her voice sounding excited despite remaining in its monotone.

"Indeed," Ren said with a nod.

"Yay!" Nora shouted, standing up suddenly and drawing her hammer. Everything flew away, including the Scroll. Ozpin glared at the young woman, who had yet to return her weapon to her back and was now skipping around the room.

"Well... maybe we shouldn't be _that_ excited," Sun pointed out as Nora's hammer approached a load bearing pillar of the building.

Ozpin dashed into the weapon's path and grabbed hold of the handle. "Miss Valkyrie, please," he grunted. The red head just shrugged and put her weapon away before skipping happily over to where she had been sitting with Ren's arm around her shoulders.

"Now, if we aren't going to have any more outbursts," Ozpin said while giving Nora a pointed glare. She pointed at herself in mock innocence and Ren snickered with her. The former Headmaster rolled his eyes and and placed the Scroll back where it belonged. "Now, the call should connect any -"

"Okay, so how do I get video?" Qrow grumbled. There was a voice in the background. "Well, sorry that not all of us have used the brand new Scrolls only a Schnee can afford, Ice Queen! Really?! Why you – Hey!" There was another moment of darkness before an annoyed woman with white hair and blue eyes appeared. She looked over her shoulder at Qrow. "Yeah, well... Shut up."

"Hey, Qrow!" Sora shouted, waving at the veteran Huntsman. "I see you've finally stopped denying your feelings?"

"About?" Qrow threatened with a murderous gleam in his eyes.

Sora was saved from having to respond by the sudden emergence of a ball of red. "Sora!"

"Ruby!" Sora shouted back.

"Neptune!"

"Sun!"

"Nora!" Nora shouted, causing everyone else to nearly fall to their faces from sheer confusion, even Ren.

The entire time this was going on, Blake and one other person had remained rather quiet. "Yang..." the cat Faunus mumbled quietly. Everyone else immediately quieted down on both sides of the screen and glanced nervously between the two members of Team RWBY. Save for Ozpin, of course. He was tapping his fingers against the head of his cane, waiting for this to be over so he could talk about something more pressing.

The blonde crossed her arms and leaned back into the white leather couch she was sitting on. Her right hand immediately caught attention as it was a bright yellow and far bulkier than her left. Whereas everyone else held in their comments about how cool the prosthetic limb looked or how tough the bombshell looked with the spiked knuckle plates, Blake was stuck remembering Adam slashing effortlessly through the blonde's substantial Aura and cleanly slicing off her arm. Blake suddenly had a very powerful urge to run away, as was habit for the young woman, but stopped when she felt light pressure on her right hand. Sun was holding tight and smiled supportively.

Blake took a deep breath and looked over at her former partner. "I... I'm – How are you Yang?"

The blond's face contorted to a snarl and she pointed one robotic finger at Blake, causing the Faunus to sink into the black couch she was sitting on. "Blake..."

"Yang, I'm so –" the girl whimpered in response.

"How dare you?!" Yang snapped.

"Yang, uh, I thought you were -" Ruby tried to cut in, only for Yang to cover her younger sister's mouth with her free hand.

"How dare you do this to me!?" she yelled. It was then that Sora saw the nearly invisible sparkle in the blonde's eyes. He looked down to hide his grin at what was about to happen.

"I'm sorry, I was just scared -"

"You are not the blonde of this team, Blake!" Yang snapped, breaking off the Faunus' response. "I understand trying to look as good as me, but you can't just steal someone's style, dammit!"

"W-what?" Blake inquired softly.

Yang's angry glare slowly shifted to a smile. "Come on, how could I stay angry with my best friend, you idiot?" the blonde asked mockingly. She gave a robotic thumbs up to her friend. "Besides, now I've got this awesome robot puncher! If you want to blame yourself, just know everything came out better than before."

Blake stared at her partner before bursting out into quiet, subdued laughter. "I think it's called a fist, not a 'puncher,' but I'm glad you like it," she responded between laughs. She brought one hand up to scratch her face and hide the tears of happiness that were starting to well up in her eyes. She wiped them off as discreetly as possible, then smiled back at the screen.

"Can you believe it!? Team RWBY, back together again!" Ruby shouted. She brought her fists near her chest and bent over a little, squealing like an overly excited little girl in a candy store. "Well, not together like normal, like all in the same place together, but together in like the way we're all on a Team again kicking butt and taking names! YAAAAAAAY!" Sora laughed. He didn't think he'd ever seen Ruby this excited.

"Yes, and while we are all quite happy, it's we convened to share what intelligence and resources we have managed to gather over the past month," Ozpin cut in before anyone else could begin to get excited. "I promise, you can enjoy time together once we have discussed what we need to."

"I-E... Business before -" Qrow was cut off by a stern glare from Winter. He shrugged and looked back at the screen. "Pleasure."

Winter groaned for a moment. "Sadly, he is correct. We need to talk about DISC and my f-"

"And Penny!" Ruby interjected.

Qrow sighed. "That's not possible, Ruby," he said apologetically. "Even if it's... the same project, it'd be someone else at best something else at worst."

"No. You're wrong," Ruby huffed. She crossed her arms and let her pupils drift to the right side of her eyes.

"Wait, where did you see this?" Ozpin asked.

Qrow ran a hand through his hair and moved to answer. Winter cut him off however. "That is the more pressing matter," the platinum blonde explained. She uncrossed and recrossed her legs again before clasping her hands on her knees. "BF-0705. Blue Fairy research code 0-7-0-5 on the bottom level of the complex, if Ruby is correct."

"I _am_ right," Ruby grumbled, insulted at the mere concept that she didn't know what she was doing.

Winter continued as if no one had said anything at all. "And this placement in the deepest depths of a facility which even the General had no clearance to enter, along with it being guarded by -"

"By Penny!" Ruby shouted in the background.

"- this android... Blue Fairy is what designed DISC, and my father is in control of the organization. 0705 or 0706 must be where DISC is housed."

Sora looked past Winter at Ruby, who was dying to scream 'AND PENNY!' one more time.

"Well, I suppose this could be passed off as good news," Ozpin muttered, also sweeping Ruby's shouting to the side for the time being. Once their more pressing concerns were done with he would take a look at this to help her. "Until now no one I could trust had the slightest idea as to Blue Fairy's current location. And this confirms that DISC's deployment is an inevitability."

"Why would you say that, Oz?" Sora inquired. Qrow raised an eyebrow at how informal the young man was being with Ozpin, but noticed that the old warrior didn't say anything about it. That meant he considered the kid his equal.

"Because, Sora," Ozpin began, confirming Qrow's suspicions. He didn't really think he had anything else to teach the kid if he ever called him by his first name. "Even if the weapon is not deployed now, the technology exists and that guarantees its use eventually. True, it could be used for good, even in battle. But Miss Schnee's father is an easily excited individual. If he has a weapon, it is because he will use it."

"Unfortunately, that is quite the apt description of my father," Winter muttered angrily. She sighed. "If not used against Vale in an ill advised response to whatever this Salem is planning, DISC would only be used against another group who would not deserve such aggression."

Sora frowned at that. Even having known people like Xehanort or Salem, it was still hard to believe that people could do such bad things. Then again, Jaune and Riku were testaments to good people doing bad things, and Sora suddenly understood it a lot more. Even Ozpin had done something terrible once he'd been backed into the wall; Sora was starting to understand that much. "But how can we stop it?"

"For now? We try to do this the right way," Qrow explained. He shrugged. "The Vale Council sent someone to deal with DISC – Argent Arc."

"Jaune's dad!?" Sora, Ruby, and the remaining members of team JNPR shouted as one. Sora's hand immediately fell to Fenrir's hilt and his shoulders fell. He piped up before the others. "What did you tell him?"

"Nothing yet," Qrow explained with a disappointed shrug. "Thought it best we go over this first. Oz?"

"I believe in this matter, I will defer to our young allies, here," the ancient wizard said with a small smile. "They are Mister Arc's friends, and thus deserve to make this decision."

"We tell him," Ruby said, raising her fist in front of her.

"As soon as possible!" Sora agreed, doing the same.

Blake bit her lip. It was still hard to believe that Jaune would do something as drastic as try to help an evil sorceress destroy the world. Not because she didn't expect people to do that when angry, but because he wasn't like her. She had become a terrorist because of her family's deaths and to help the Fang, but she was... Darker than Jaune and the others. He'd always been goofy and kind, not angry and cruel. Maybe... Maybe his dad could help snap him back to reality. "Agreed," she muttered.

"This is the guy that told Jaune to make those cheesy jokes to girls? Can he be trusted?" Weiss joked. No one laughed. "I thought _that_ _one_ would at least get laughs!"

"Two syllables, Icy. Ti-ming," Yang chastised, shoving the heiress to the side before sticking her fist with a thumbs up towards the screen. "I'm fired up for this one! Eh?" She got less of a response than Weiss. "Fine... My vote is 'Tell him.' Jerks." Weiss just stuck her tongue out at the brawler.

"Wait, there's a different option than telling him?" Nora asked, causing all the other younger warriors to laugh in agreement. "No, really, there is?"

"She means to say, 'We're in,'" Ren said with a small grin on his face. She nodded and held her hand out like the others with Ren following suit.

"Well, when you put it that way, how could anyone disagree?" Sun asked, with he and Neptune following suit. "Maybe Jaune's dad can knock him out of this like water knocks out Neptune!"

Neptune glowered at his friend and, for once, decided to respond in kind. "Or how Neptune gets knocked out just by thinking about his 'Kitten.'"

The Faunus jolted and looked over nervously at Blake, who was glaring at him in a combination of her own embarrassment and anger. "Kitten?" she inquired.

"Uh... Uh..."

"So now that we know how to approach that issue, it's time we move on to the next," Ozpin cut in, saving Sun from having to answer. The warrior's face grew grim. "I assume Taiyang called you as well?"

"Yeah. I've been trying to get in touch with the Ledenica since I got here, but she isn't picking up my calls," he explained with a shrug. His cape rustled against the couch and he leaned forward. "I'll keep trying but..."

Weiss frowned and looked over at her sister. "Wouldn't General Ironwood know about this? Maybe where she is?"

The elder Schnee shook her head. "No. Save Qrow and Ozpin himself, no one knew the locations of the Maidens or their travel plans. We were aware one lived in Atlas, and assumed others were present in the other Kingdoms. To form a balance of power, as it were."

"Not far off, Ice Queen," Qrow grunted, none of his usual sarcasm present.

"So... We're really just at square one still? Nothing has changed?" Sora asked suddenly. Ozpin looked over, surprised that the young man would be that blunt and angry. It didn't seem normal. Sora sighed and crossed his arms while getting his 'deep thought' face on. "Look, I know we needed to talk about all this stuff, but we didn't actually solve anything. We don't know who to talk to about the Winter Maiden, and we don't know how to get to DISC and destroy it. We should focus on the problem we can learn more about, or at least _we_ –" he gestured at himself and the other younger group of warriors. "– can learn more about. Penny, Morrigan, Neo, and the Heartless that are showing up now."

Ruby smiled appreciatively and nodded. "He's right," she said resolutely. She was happy Sora had believed it was Penny without a second thought. "Penny's our friend as much as Jaune, and she needs our help."

"And Sora said my mom is... there still. If I can take out Morrigan, and maybe find her Heartless, she could come back!" Yang said, a quiet smile on her face for once. "And then she could help us deal with all this other stuff!"

Ozpin hated to admit it, but the children were right. All they had done was make decisions thus far that amounted to little more than 'Keep doing what you are doing.' Perhaps approaching these smaller problems would allow them a way to examine the larger ones more closely. Penny especially, he realized. If she was down there – or whatever had become of her was – then it stood to reason that Doctor Polendina might have the answers. "You're right," Ozpin muttered.

"Don't think I've ever heard Oz say that to someone before," Qrow grunted.

Ozpin ignored the comment and turned to Winter. "Can you set up a meeting between Miss Rose and Doctor Polendina?" he asked the Specialist.

"Probably. Why?" she asked.

"Ruby said that he was Penny's 'Father,' yes?" he asked, turning to look at the young woman. She jolted upright from picking her nose and nodded at breakneck speeds. "Then it stands to reason he cares for her as a person, not just as a weapon or a guardian. What did she look like when you saw her, Miss Rose?"

"Er... no skin, not a lot of... her in her eyes. Just a robot, but it was Penny. I know it!" she affirmed resolutely.

"But Oz, we saw her..." Qrow trailed off for his niece's sake.

"I knew someone like Penny," Sora said suddenly. The others looked over in surprise, even Ozpin. He had known someone like a robot with a soul and a Heart? "His name was Pinocchio. He was a wooden puppet. He could... fall apart, I guess. But when he was put back together he was still himself. I'd bet Penny's the same."

"That settles it. Let's go make a house call!" Yang shouted, surging to her feet and knocking their Scroll down.

"Yang!" Qrow shouted, exasperated.

"Heh... Whoops!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Qrow grimaced as he stood outside of Argent's hotel room, Ice Queen at his side. He had never been good at the whole 'giving bad news' kind of thing. Especially not to friends; Argent had been something of a mentor to him back in the Beacon days, something he'd never told anyone, even the rest of STRQ. Of course, it had been a bit of a quid pro quo type deal. Argent was terrible with the ladies, and Qrow had helped him out with that. Well, 'helped.' He'd ignored every bit of Qrow's advice until he had finally found a girl who enjoyed his terrible pick up lines. From how Ruby and the others talked about Jaune, Argent had passed on his idiocy to the next generation. "Are you nervous?" Winter asked suddenly.

"No!" Qrow shouted indignantly.

"Really? Because you've fastened your cape twelve times. And that's just in the four minutes we've been standing in front of this door," she pointed out dryly. "Are you afraid to knock, then?"

"No..." Qrow muttered quietly, though still incredibly indignant.

"Fine. I'll knock," Winter said dismissively, rapping her knuckles against the door even while Qrow tried to stop her.

"Yeah, who's there?" Argent's voice called from within.

"Qrow and the..." Winter rolled her eyes before saying, "'The Specialist.'"

Argent walked up to the door and opened it. "When I said you could come to talk to me anytime, I didn't mean with the enemy at your hip," Argent muttered exasperatedly. He gestured at the woman with his head.

"She's not the enemy," Qrow said forcefully, surprising Winter with his resolute tone. His voice grew soft when he continued, however. "I'm sorry, but we're here to be bearers of bad news."

Argent shrugged. "What else is new?" he grumbled. He took a step back. "Come on in, then."

Qrow and Winter did just that, entering the Atlesian Suite. It was, as almost everything else in the Kingdom was, furnished entirely in monochrome. Argent noticed Qrow's glare at the white chair. "Yeah, I wish they had some more greens and blues than this," he remarked, before cocking his head to the side and shrugging. "Of course, that might just be me getting homesick."

"Yeah... Uh, Argent I think it'd be best if you sat down," Qrow explained. He was wringing his hands and licking his lips over and over again. Winter grabbed his shoulder and shook her head imperceptibly to calm him.

"What could be so bad?" Argent asked mockingly, though he did as Qrow had suggested.

"So, um... Your son, he..."

"Ugh, Jaune. So, Beacon found out that his transcripts were fake?" Argent inquired. The Huntsman shook his head and crossed his arms. "I told him not to do it. Said it was stupid, but he wouldn't budge. I love the kid to death, but... Just not a fighter."

"Actually, he fights pretty damn nice, now," Qrow grunted. He knew that Ruby would want him to defend her friend, even if he was fallen. "But that's not the problem."

"Well, thank you for being so damn cryptic, Qrow, but I'd like to know whatever news you're delivering before I die of old age," Argent grunted. He looked from Qrow and over to Winter. "Well, it doesn't look like he's going to say anything, but I can tell you love to just sour people's days. It's a Schnee staple after all."

Winter narrowed her eyes but decided not to take the bait, though she came dangerously close. "Argent, stop," Qrow cut in. He sighed. "Look, Argent, I've got some bad news about your kid. He's fine, physically, but he's taken a lot of emotional damage. He's in a bad place, Argent, and he has been for a while."

Argent sighed. "So, Jaune had a mental breakdown?" Argent asked. He shook his head. Even he had thought Jaune stronger than that. "Where is he? I'll leave now."

"No, that's not it. H-have you ever thought about the one wish that would break you?" Qrow asked suddenly. "Your Price?"

"I don't have a price, Qrow," he responded to avoid the question.

"Not money, idiot," Qrow snapped. "The Price... The person or thing you'd go Dark for."

Argent grew uncomfortable. "Why are you bringing this up, Qrow?" he murmured.

Qrow growled, then snapped, "Answer the question."

"My kids. Jaune. It's why I faked his transcripts," Argent explained, his voice barely a whisper.

"Good, then maybe you can understand him at least," Qrow muttered. He sat down on the edge of the bed with a sigh and laced his fingers together in his lap. "Jaune met the one person who could pay his price, Argent. That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"Th – No. No, Jaune may not be strong when it comes to a fight, but his spirit wouldn't bend like that," Argent said. He stood up and shook his head. "Qrow, that boy overlooked common sense about himself to go to Beacon. He doesn't know the blade of a sword from its pommel and he can't swing one to save his life. He's a good kid. Stupid, but good."

"Yeah. Stupid for a girl who got murdered because he wasn't strong enough to save her," Qrow explained without glancing up at the man. "Or at least that's what keeps going through his head."

Argent let his gaze fall. "Qrow, I don't believe you," Argent said. He sat down and shook his head. "No, I _can't_ believe you. Jaune... Jaune's my boy, Qrow. He's stupid and reckless but he's maybe the strongest kid in the world and he would not do evil for anything."

"Doesn't change that he did," Qrow said apologetically. The scythe wielder stood up and shrugged. "His friends thought you should know, 'cause maybe you'll be able to smack some sense into him if you keep an eye out." Qrow waited for Argent to respond, but even five minutes later nothing had happened. "Keep in touch, Argent. Call me when you're ready." Qrow turned around and walked away with Winter. He shut the door behind them and continued walking a moment later.

"Are you okay?" Winter asked when they were some distance from the suite.

"No. Argent's a friend, so I'd rather not have to tell him his son isn't exactly on the side of angels right now," he explained with a frown. He sighed and looked over at the woman. "Thanks for coming with me, Ice Queen. It was nice not to do it alone."

"Anytime, Qrow," she replied with her usual military tone.

"No, like..." Qrow stopped and grabbed her by the shoulders, spinning her lightly to face him. He smiled appreciatively "Really, Ice Queen. It means a lot that you came even though Argent is..."

"Even though he hates Specialists more than you do?" Winter asked. She raised one white eyebrow and smirked at him.

Qrow scoffed and nodded his head. "Yeah, well, you are sell outs," Qrow said mockingly, putting his face close to Winter's and smirking.

"I prefer the term 'professional,'" Winter mocked right back. She moved forward as well. "Implying, well, you're amateurs."

"Amateurs?" he asked, voice growing quiet. He bit his tongue, trying to clear his mind of the thoughts running through them. He wouldn't want Ruby to see them. He was surprised when even thinking that didn't stop the images flashing across the inside of his eyelids. He tried to say something else to Winter, but it just came out as a scoff.

She took it as a 'Really?' scoff. "Yes, and like I said," she muttered, her voice as quiet as Qrow's by this point, "'I'm a professional.'"

Qrow leaned in all the way first and tilted his head to the right just a little. He was taking shallow breaths through his mouth, trying not to scare her away. To say nothing of scaring himself off. Their lips brushed together for only the briefest moment at first, and Qrow felt what reminded him of a jolt of energy jumping between them. He almost flinched when he suddenly felt a pair of hands on his waist suddenly pull him in and then push him against the wall. In response Qrow slowly but steadily placed his hands on the heiress' hips. One thought ran through his mind for half a second before disappearing: _Oh, God, those stupid kids were right..._

"Qrow, I'm sorry I didn't believe you. It's just that – Oh. Oh God! No. NO! _What is happening?!_ " someone screamed. Qrow and Winter both froze for a half moment and shoved away from one another. Winter's back slammed into the opposite wall of the hallway and the two both looked, terrified, over at the blonde source of the voice. Argent Arc was staring at Qrow with a look of pure disgust and terror plastered across his features. "You damn traitor. A specialist?" Qrow and Winter traded a silent, almost terrified glance, and then looked back at Argent. He was wagging his index finger around like a disappointed older brother. "Um... I will... I will come back later. Hopefully when you are doing something I can be less disappointed in about." Argent shook his head when he realized how that sounded. He put his index finger up again, this time to silence any mocking statements that Qrow may have had. "Not remotely what I meant!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby had to admit that one of the nicest military apartments in Atlas' was about the best description one could give for Doctor Polendina's home. Not only was it four stories of open and bright building with one way glass allowing light in but nothing within out. The best part was that nothing inside was the usual monochrome of the Atlesian military; the entire home was furnished with shades of green and copper, with impressionistic art and bright landscapes on the walls. Ruby guessed that this place and Doctor Polendina's kind personality had been quite the influence on Penny. Ruby took a deep breath and sighed happily as the smell of cookies wafted through the air. This place may have been heaven... She tensed her legs and zipped towards the kitchen to begin stuffing her face.

"Ruby, he hasn't even offered us those!" Weiss hissed. She ran up behind her partner and tried to pull her away from the warm snacks. "Yang help – not help eat the cookies!" Yang didn't hear her, as she was currently in the process of racing Ruby through the cookie supply. "Neptune -" He had also begun digging in. Weiss just sighed and stole one out from the pile before the other three could eat them all.

"Ahem!" The entire group snapped to attention, with three cookies hanging from Ruby's mouth as they stared at the butler standing outside of the kitchen. Ruby inhaled and the three cookies disappeared behind a nervous grin. "Doctor Polendina will see you now," the man said, turning to walk up the stairs. The group glanced at one another and followed him a moment later. Save Ruby, who had turned around to bring the plate with her. She stuffed another cookie in her mouth as she walked up the stairs behind her sister and laughed contentedly.

The butler stopped at the top of the stairs and pressed an intercom button beside a thick, steel door. "Come in," Doctor Polendina's voice called a moment later, followed by a hiss as the door slid open slightly. The butler gestured for the young warriors to enter without him and walked away. He did give Ruby a dirty glance for stealing the plate and cookies, but otherwise moved without incident. Ruby shrugged and stuck her tongue out at him before moving through the door with the others.

If the rest of the apartment was nice, this room was beyond impressive. One of the walls was made entirely of thick, one way mirror that bathed the entire room in light and a shutter that could be used to cover it when there wasn't enough light on the outside to serve the one way mirror function of the windows. The natural light made the entire two story room, with its sand colored wood floors and the projects in varying stages of completion, seem like a very welcoming and homely place. Ruby could see everything here. There was a floating, bird like robot darting around the room excitedly. It stopped in front of Ruby and chirped before circling her head and shooting off again. "Okay, this is just way too cool," Yang said as she approached a life sized Rock-Em Sock-Em robots. She pressed one of the buttons and a huge red fist delivered an uppercut to send the blue robots head flying. She looked over at Weiss and grinned. "Wanna lose?"

The heiress rolled her eyes and walked towards one of the other in progress machines. This one was a small radar dish of sorts pointed at a small terrarium. Weiss absently pressed a few buttons on the machine and it lit up like a Christmas tree. "Ooh!" The lights had been followed by the appearance of a snow storm in the terrarium. Weiss laughed, "It's a weather machine!"

"This place is a horror show..." Neptune grumbled.

Everyone turned towards him in shock that he would say that, but quickly understood when they saw he was surrounded by robotic copies of water creatures swimming through the air. "I feel like I'm under water," he groaned sadly as a tiny dolphin flipped through the air in front of him.

"I have to say, that's not the response I expected from those." The young warriors looked up and saw the portly figure of Doctor Polendina looking down at them from the second floor. He smiled. "Please, come up here. Don't be shy." He turned away and the noise of his work resumed.

Ruby shrugged and bolted up the stairs, arriving at the top of the stairs before the others had even taken their first step. Doctor Polendina turned around as her wind trail hit him and flinched in his seat. "You're... a fast one, aren't you?" he mumbled. He sighed and moved away from the machine he had been working on, a puffy white robot that looked incredibly huggable. The Doctor noticed what Ruby was staring at and let out a sigh. "Yes, it doesn't look like a weapon, does it?"

"Not at all," Ruby said. She looked around. "But, um, none of this does."

"Weaponry is all well and good, but it's not my passion," the Doctor responded. He shrugged nonchalantly. "I'd always preferred what I created to have reason to be created. Light, fun..." His voice trailed off and he glanced sourly at the ground.

"Like your daughter?" Yang asked, deciding it was the perfect time for that Rose-Branwen-Xiao Long brand of bluntness as she and the others reached the top of the stairs.

The Doctor sighed before nodding. "Yes. Like my daughter," he muttered. He slid out of his chair and walked towards the four Huntsmen. He looked between them before letting his eyes settle on Ruby. "You knew her very well, didn't you?"

Ruby nodded. "She's my friend," she stated simply.

"She did seem more bright before..." Doctor Polendina clenched his jaw and shook his head. "I did tell her not to sneak away, so she would be safe. I'm glad she didn't, if she was able found friends such as you." He smiled and nodded. "Yes, very glad. Now, what did you come to see me about? Winter Schnee does not vouch for many."

"Actually, we came to talk to you about your daughter," Weiss explained, her voice compassionate.

Doctor Polendina's eyes watered. "Look, I'm glad that you want to know more about her, but I'd rather not go into detail. She did not live a long enough life for -"

"I know she's in Blue Fairy," Ruby cut in, clenching her fists in front of her. She swept them apart. "Don't say she's not, I saw her!"

"You saw..?" Doctor Polendina fell into his chair. "That is... not Penny."

"I saw her myself. She's Penny!" Ruby cried, denying what the man is saying.

"What do you want to hear from me!?" the man snapped, causing everyone save Ruby to flinch at his growl. "Yes, the parts of Penny's Chassis were reappropriated by the Atlesian Military following the Vytal Festival. Yes, I was brought in to repair the damage. Is that what you want me to tell you?"

"No, I want you to tell me why she didn't recognize me," Ruby responded simply. She crossed her arms and glared up at the doctor's eyes, unwilling to budge on this.

Doctor Polendina clicked his tongue and shook his head, amused at the young woman's emotional fortitude. "Truly, I am glad that Penny knew you. It means her life was full while it lasted," the Doctor muttered to himself. He stood up straight a moment later and crossed his own arms, matching Ruby's intense glare to see if she would back down. He gave her a few moments and then nodded. With a louder tone of voice, he spoke now to the young woman. "My daughter was returned to me in pieces following the Incident at Beacon, where she was revealed and murdered on live broadcast. You have to understand that, following that debacle, the Atlesian government would have preferred I not risk rebuilding Penny. She had embarrassed them and they did not want to risk that. I grew increasingly desperate for any possibility of trying to save her..." He turned his gaze on Weiss. "That possibility came from your father, Miss Schnee."

"I can only assume how that ended," the heiress muttered, disappointed already.

"Yes. He said I could have everything I needed to rebuild her, but only if her memories prior to the battle were erased and he was given complete control over where she was assigned... I agreed." Doctor Polendina gestured at Ruby. "She doesn't remember you. She doesn't even think of me as her father because all that's left is defense protocols. I mean it when I saw that simply is not Penny anymore."

"You're wrong," Ruby responded almost immediately. "Or you're not paying attention. She's in there, she's fighting to come back out and remember who she is!"

"That is simply not scientifically possible," the Doctor murmured.

"But it's the truth," Ruby shouted. Polendina looked up at her, studying the intense determination in the young woman's silver eyes. He found himself believing it for a moment, hoping it was true. "So you can either help us save Penny, or you can tell us how to break in there so we can do it ourselves."

The Doctor let out a breath. "That would be illegal..." he pointed out simply.

"What else is new?" Weiss asked, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

He crossed his arms. "And hot headed..."

"The best plans are!" Yang countered.

"... So what kind of father would I be if I did not help my daughter's incredibly stubborn friends save her?" the Doctor inquired, the spark of Hope alive in his eyes once again.

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _Four Years Before the First Great Keyblade War_

Ozpin's coat swayed side to side with every step he took towards the Great Library at the center of the city, one of the few buildings that his former students and their so-called 'Unions' avoided in their daily play fights over the Light. Save for the fact that his students' friendships had fractured and they were rapidly approaching physical violence, these battles were meaningless and cute. But the Darkness was there. War it would soon become. Oz put his hands in his pockets and glanced around from beneath the hood of his jacket. The Light above was quickly dimming, day giving way to night. And with that night would come the creatures of Darkness yet again. He would prefer to find what he was looking for before they came after him. That would increase the possibility that his former students would converge on him, which raised the possibility that they discovered who he truly was. Then the traitor would pass on that information and... Well, he preferred not to think about that.

Oz reached the building a few minutes later and rattled the locked door with the empty hope it was already open. He sighed and held his right hand out to summon his Keyblade. The scorpion appeared in a flash of emerald light and he tapped the weapon lightly on the door. It swung open on its own and he dismissed it, pocketing his hands and walking in without a noise. He stretched out with his foot at the last moment and shut the door behind him so nobody would notice he had broken in.

He walked in silence through the library's remade hallways for a while, ignoring the memories of the last time he had been there. Time may have eased the burden of pain that night held for him, but any sort of pain or emotional trauma had the negative effect of attracting the Heartless further. It was the scent of their prey, after all. That was also the reason he had kept the Keyblade out of his hands for now. It seemed like everything attracted Heartless.

Oz entered the Main Library and looked up, gazing at the floors upon floors of stacks upon stacks of books that coated the walls all the way up to the ceiling. The greatest bastion of collected knowledge in the known world. Ozpin shrugged and let his gaze fall to examine everything around him. He had discovered recently that the Adversary had not only been after Salem all those years ago, but also what the woman had been hiding there. Old plans he had found while rummaging, drunk, through her things pointed to the existence of a long forgotten extra room in the floor of the main Library. He took his hands from his pockets and began to look around for his way in. He blasted the tables and chairs out of the room with a wave of his left hand. They were new, which meant that the doorway was likely tied to the floor or one of the book shelves.

Oz looked around for a grand total of five minutes before he became exasperated with searching like this. He would rather risk a few easily killed monsters than look all night for something he may not even find. The Keyblade appeared in his hand again, this time with the tip facing the ground. The head of the weapon glowed for a moment until Ozpin twisted it as if it were in a lock. The ground beneath him groaned and rumbled. He dismissed the weapon as quickly as he could once again so he could look around for the entrance to the secret room.

"Kyaa!" Ozpin's shoulders fell when he realized he had not been fast enough in dismissing Libidious Sting, and the Heartless had found him. Ozpin sighed but nonetheless turned on his heel and summoned his weapon back to his hand. The blade caught the incoming attack of a Wyvern Heartless, sending the draconic creature crashing into the bookshelves. Ozpin quickly turned to the incoming Defender Heartless that was accompanying the Wyvern and looped the teeth of his weapon around the shield, tearing the weapon from its wielder's hands before spin kicking the creature face first into the ground.

The Heartless didn't seem to care, and simply disappeared in a pool of shadows. Ozpin ignored the monster that was surely moving to grab its weapon, and instead focused on the now recovered Wyvern. He twisted nimbly out of the creature's spinning dive and brought his Keyblade down on its neck. The creature hissed for a moment while the weapon dug into its body, then it exploded in a burst of shadows. Ozpin raised his Keyblade defensively and deflected the incoming ball of fire that the Defender had shot at him.

The Keyblade Wielder turned his hooded head to the monster and summoned a bolt of Thunder from the sky. The Defender groaned with the deep sound of metal bending and stumbled backwards. The energy had paralyzed long enough for Ozpin to appear beside the creature and bisect it with a swing of his Keyblade. The weapon disappeared from his hand just as soon as the creature disappeared from the room.

Ozpin looked around for a moment to wait for another Heartless to show up. When none did, he moved towards the place where he had heard the opening of the door. He found a book shelf that was slightly pulled away from the wall, behind which rested a stairway leading downward. He took a second to think about how he was going to find the last refuge of Salem, then shoved that from his mind and walked down the dark hallway with his hands in his pockets once again.

Ozpin stopped when he reached the room at the bottom of the stairs and summoned a sphere of Light to his right hand. He held it out in front of him and examined the pitch black room carefully. The room was empty, save for a table at the center of the floor covered in papers and an anvil of sorts in the corner. Oz clenched his fist and the Light floated above the table. He picked up a few of the papers and began to flip through them. It seemed this was where Salem had stored her most intensive research on the Keyblades. He finished the group of papers he had picked up and switched them out for another.

This one froze him. These papers weren't even in her handwriting, and had the name _Aliux_ printed at the top. He slammed the papers down on the table. She had said she'd destroyed all of the notes that insane monster had when they attacked his compound and saved his students. This... this didn't make any sense. She had been lying to him? Wait, did that mean that the Keyblade had been built from the man's research on the kids? He read through the notes again and slammed them on the table, shattering the wood in half.

Ozpin summoned his Keyblade to his hand and threw it to the ground, horrified. He stumbled backwards until his back hit the wall, and he brought his hands up to clutch his head. "You... Salem, you killed people to make these..?" he asked. He slid to a sitting position and placed his head between his legs. What kind of person had she been if she would do that to someone!? What kind of person could he be if he had... if he had loved someone like that? Someone who would shatter Hearts to create a weapon? There was a hum and the wall behind him became clear. Ozpin looked over his shoulder... and saw a room of dozens of Keyblades. Every so often, one would flash and disappear, never to return. The word 'Failures' was painted across the wall. "How many people?"

Ozpin growled and slammed his fist into the ground. It didn't matter. He stood up slowly and dismissed his Keyblade. The world needed to be defended, and the Keyblades were the only way to do that, no matter how they were created. Oz summoned a Firaga to his hand and launched it at the center of the room, igniting the entire room in bright red flames. He turned around and walked away as the fires spread across the room and notes, burning away Salem's darkest secret. Maybe even the deepest Darkness could bring some Light into the world.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora sat down in the main square of Vale, reading through Jiminy's journal with a smile on his face. There were even some notes from the era following the birth of Remnant. He'd have to tell Sun and the others some of these stories about the Golden Mouse and the Demon Winged Angel. They'd love to hear about how Mickey and Riku gallivanting across early Remnant destroying the first monsters that threatened the people living on the world.

He flipped the page and smiled down at the stories of his friends fighting off the first Grimm born from the remains of the Keyblade Graveyard. It looked like this Dragon had actually been imprisoned by his friends in a nearby mountain. He wished he could have seen them take the things down, but for now he was just happy to know they had kept on being themselves even with everything going crazy. For now he was looking through it to find a way to help him use his new Keyblade. He was sure that Jiminy would have had some information either from their old adventures or from what happened during their time on Remnant that could help him.

Sora looked around and caught sight of someone in a black coat staring directly at him from the other side of the square, just at the edge of a ledge overlooking the park at the center. He had gray armor on the outside of the long coat on his shoulders and torso that looked really familiar to Sora. The figure crossed its arms over its chest and continued to stare intently at the young man with features invisible beneath the hood. Sora frowned and stood up, pocketing the book and pulling his own coat onto his shoulders and zipping it up again. Sora put his hand on Fenrir to show that he wasn't going to be scared off by whoever this was.

The other figure raised one hand above its head and the gray clouds above them swirled dangerously. Yellow and black Thunder crashed into the area surrounding Sora and this figure, sending the other people into a terrified frenzy. They ran through the square, parting around Sora and this other figure in their massive rush to escape what was about to become a raging battlefield. Sora waited patiently, keeping his gaze locked with the hooded figure's. He didn't like this. Maybe he could call Oz and the others if he was lucky – and the guy just raised one of those weird indestructible walls around the town square. Great.

The figure lowered its hand and the Thunder ceased. "Jaune," Sora said loudly as the figure began to approach him. Sora reached down to his belt and flicked his wrist, causing Fenrir to extend in his right hand. He bent his knees and got into a battle ready stance. "It's been too long."

The figure stopped moving as it came to stand about fifteen feet apart from him. He simultaneously raised his right hand out to his side and brought his left one up to the lip of his hood. The air around his right hand flashed black and white for a moment, and a familiar Keyblade appeared in his fist. Its basket formed from black demon wings and the ram placed at the center of the hilt. The bright blue demon eye at the top of the blade. Xehanort's weapon. The left hand drifted back for a moment and the hood fell.

Jaune hadn't changed much since he had abandoned them, though his eyes held a certain level of steely indifference they had never contained before. Sora let his weapon fall to his side as he examined his friend's angry glare. "I'm glad you're okay," Sora told the blonde.

The blonde ignored Sora. "I can't believe my luck. Just running into you," Jaune growled. He raised his weapon so the end was aimed at Sora. "Give me the book, and I'll leave."

"The book? – Wait, what would you want with Jiminy's Journal?" Sora asked, sweeping his left hand across his chest. "It's all I have of my old friends, so why would you want it?"

"Don't care to tell you," Jaune retorted without moving at all. "Just hand it the hell over."

Sora shook his head and glanced at the ground. "Just... Jaune, come back. We're still your friends!" he shouted, raising his head and shaking his hands in front of him. He reached into his pocket and tossed a small, yellow star to the blonde.

Jaune caught it with his left hand and looked down at it. "A... star?"

"A Wayfinder. It's a symbol of our friendship, Jaune," Sora explained calmly. He smiled and took a step towards the blonde warrior. "You're our friend. Just stop this and help us keep Salem from destroying everything! Come on, it'll be like old times!"

Jaune looked at the Wayfinder in his gloved hand and nodded slowly. "Pass," he grunted. He tossed the Wayfinder into the air and slashed down with his black and white weapon, shattering the glistening charm into a dozen pieces. Sora stopped in his tracks and stared sadly at his friend. The young man shut his eyes and looked down in defeat. "Give me the book. Now."

Sora narrowed his eyes on his opponent and crouched into a battle ready stance. "Then I guess we're going to have to have a fight," Sora stated resolutely.

Jaune's emotions showed on his face for the first time as a small smirk came to his face. "Trust me. It won't be much of a fight." Then he twisted so the Keyblade was parallel to the ground and his left arm was pointed directly at Sora. His left hand shined with a black aura for a moment. "Fire."

Sora's eyes widened at the black flames that suddenly shot towards him. "Oh, Dust..." the former Keyblade Wielder groaned. He raised his weapon defensively in front of him and prepared to try deflecting a blow he would've just walked around if he had a Keyblade. The black explosion came ever closer, seeming to slow down as it did. "This, uh, this is going to hurt."


	30. With Friends Like These

**AN:**

 **Hi there!**

 **Okay! Three quarters of the way through and just in time for Volume Four's premiere! Woo hoo! I can't wait to watch the premiere!**

 **Now, time for a few responses.**

 **To gamelover41592: I love me some Qrow and Winter.**

 **To Taromaru: When Sora has his second Dive and claims the Master Defender in a few chapters, Sora's Darkness will probably use the form of a Darkside at first and then shift into Anti-Form Sora for the last half of the fight.**

 **To sethman610: Sorry, I must have just misunderstood then. As for if the other KH characters have stories written about them, the answer is yes. I'm not going to go into detail, but they were great heroes in their own right eventually.**

 **To grimlock987: No, this fight isn't going to be super one sided, but it isn't going to end with Sora being incredibly triumphant. Any victories that come will be hard earned.**

 **To Kingofclubs8129: Oh, yeah. The last time Jaune saw Sora, he was a half broken kid being controlled by Salem. He doesn't know that Sora's better, albeit not yet in control of his Keyblade.**

 **To Guest: Yeah, I'm glad they have Big Hero 6 in the next game at least. As for the other Marvel Worlds, if I do write the story they would probably show up as worlds the main squad of the story would travel to.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Yeah, I feel for Oz, too. The whole thing is really how he became so... focused. Now that he knows what she did, he's a bit... colder, like he is in RWBY. Because of that, and the fact that he's so focused on the mission at hand, he's going to be less distraught about her Fall than most people would be. It's more of an 'Of... of course' moment at that point given how things have gone for him so far. As for Sora's fight, yeah. He's in a fair bit of trouble.**

 _ **Chapter 30: With Friends Like These**_

Sora hurriedly raised a Reflect wall in front of him, hoping that it was enough to deflect the explosion away from him and the surrounding buildings. It was not. The spell slammed into his wall of Light energy, pushing against it with the force of a spell that only a Keyblade wielder could summon up. Sora felt the magical energy draining from his body and the light around Fenrir slowly die out until the pulsating explosion broke through the Reflect wall and exploded. The concussive force of both spells shattering sent Sora bouncing across the ground and through the front window of the restaurant he'd been eating at.

Sora groaned and pushed himself out from underneath a pile of Dr. Piper cans, eliciting laughter from Jaune on the other side of the shattered glass and inward bent steel. "Tell me, how was that for a fight?" Jaune asked. He swept his weapon out to his side and held his left hand out. "Give me the book, and I won't have to hurt you."

Sora took a deep breath and let it out in a heaving sigh. "What am I going to do with you, Jaune?" Sora asked, both earnest and exasperated. He raised Fenrir and grinned at his friend. "I'm not going to hold back, buddy. Sorry!" Sora sprinted at Jaune, glass crunching beneath his shoes as he did, and jumped through the empty window frame. He rolled to his feet a moment later and slashed upward at the Keyblade Wielder's face with both of his hands.

Jaune raised his Keyblade and deflected the blow to his right. Sora spun with the block and brought his weapon around to attack Jaune with a horizontal blow. Jaune dashed backwards and let the tip of the weapon slash just in front of his face. "You really have a one track mind when it comes to weapons, don't you Sora?" Jaune asked. He brought his weapon up and blocked the next incoming blow, looping the center gap of his weapon around the blade to give him time to examine Sora's new sword. "Wait, did you use the handle of Crocea Mors?"

Sora struggled valiantly if vainly against the incredibly powerful hold on his weapon. Had he the strength of a Keyblade Wielder, he would already have broken out of the hold and started attacking again. As it was, he was stuck trying to hold Jaune off. "Yeah, so?" Sora grunted as he continued straining against the strength of his opponent.

Jaune didn't look like he was even breaking a sweat at the moment, however. His arm wasn't even shaking at all as Sora brought his entire force to bear against him. "Come on, Sora. I don't want to hurt you unless I have to," Jaune said sympathetically and firmly. "The only people who I'm really angry with are Ozpin and his cabal."

"Jaune, stop!" Sora begged. Jaune just sighed and flicked his wrist to the side. Sora tried to keep a grip on Fenrir, but failed as it was twisted out of his hands and flew across the square. Sora stumbled backwards and clenched his fists at his side. "Jaune, you can't hate Oz for all this. He -"

"Oz?" Jaune scoffed. His eyebrows furrowed angrily and he backhanded Sora in the direction opposite that he sent Fenrir. Sora groaned when he finally skidded to a stop and clutched at his pounding skull. The sound of quiet footsteps was like fire in his skull while Jaune drew near. "So, you're friends with the bad guy now?"

Sora laughed and stumbled to his feet. "No... No, I'm pretty sure that's you right now," he retorted. He tried to open his eyes, but couldn't: his left eye was bruised shut. So he summoned a bright green burst of magic to his hands and opened it a moment later. Jaune stopped above Sora and grabbed him by the neck. Sora choked from the pressure on his throat and knew what Jaune was going to ask when his feet were no longer on the ground. "Nah, I'm not giving you Jiminy's Journal, Jaune. But I have something else I can give you." Jaune stared, unimpressed, but waited nonetheless. Sora grinned and pulled back his right hand suddenly. There was a quiet, mechanical whir and Fenrir was yanked towards its wielder by a string. The basket of the weapon slammed into the back of Jaune's ankles and he yelped in surprise before flipping over and slamming face first into the ground, letting go of Sora as he did. Sora grinned and hefted Fenrir onto his shoulder.

"Okay. I deserved that one for just standing there," Jaune admitted. He sighed and pushed himself to his feet, making a show of it. He clapped for Sora even, and it didn't even come off as mocking. He shook his right hand for a moment before summoning his weapon back to his hand. "I feel significantly less bad about crushing you if you can fight back."

"You didn't think I could fight back before? Well, I beat the Heartless and criminal lackey your boss sent after me," Sora retorted, grinning widely. He flipped his blade to a backhand grip and summoned up a magical blaze to coat it. Sora let his smile grow a little more cocky. "What, did you think all I had going for me was a Keyblade?"

Jaune didn't answer the question, instead simply surrounding his Keyblade with a burning aura of Dark Fire. He leaped forward and slashed down at Sora's shoulder, only for the blazing black weapon to miss and scratch through the ground. Sora had spun out of the way – barely – and was bringing his weapon up in a backhand strike directly at Jaune's head. The Keyblade wielder jumped away from his weapon to avoid the blow. Sora followed, continuing his assault with the intent of preventing Jaune from focusing on summoning his Keyblade back.

Up, down, left, right, Sora launched his barrage of flame bathed attacks at Jaune, both of their long black coats trailing and catching the smoke and sparks that Sora's Firaga was giving off. Jaune stayed just ahead of each attack, avoiding the attacks by the skin of his teeth. He grimaced as the heat from the flames burned at his face on another attack, the fire catching a strand of trailing hair. He sidestepped the next incoming attack and dashed forward before Sora could tturn his attack in the other direction. His shoulder slammed into Sora's and he was send flying backwards, flipping midair to land on his feet. By then, however, Jaune had already summoned his Keyblade back to his hand and was on top of Sora. Sora brought his flaming Fenrir up at the last second and let their weapons crash into one another. The opposite energies of the spells fused for a moment, Light and Darkness mixing, then their opposite natures came to the fore. The spells exploded at the same time and Sora was flung away, leaving only a crater beneath Jaune's feet.

Sora pushed himself to his feet and laughed at the completely unharmed Keyblade Wielder. "You know, I think I underestimated you," Sora chuckled. He shook his head. "Not gonna do that again."

"You can't beat me, Sora. With the Keyblade, I'm better than you," Jaune stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You know it, and I know it – you're not on my level with just a little sword."

"Probably," Sora said. A fiery red glow began to shine at his left hip. "But I still have a few tricks I can show you. There was a blinding blast of red light, and Sora was standing across from Jaune with a blood red scytche of Light in his hand that coated Fenrir in its aura. He twirled the weapon almost as quickly as Ruby was able to and finally let it rest across his shoulders. "Still think I don't have a chance, buddy?"

Jaune smiled and shook his head. Sarcastically, he said, "I thought you said weren't going to hold back on me."

Sora turned red. "I, uh... forgot."

"That you said that, or that you could do this?" Jaune asked, a dry laugh escaping his throat.

"Er... Well, a bit of both?" Sora muttered. He shook his head to get rid of the red in his cheeks. "Doesn't matter – using it now!"

Jaune grasped the handle of his Keyblade in both hands and held it in a battle stance in front of him. He shot forward at full speed a moment later and lowered his weapon for a diagonal upward slash. Sora readied himself and shot forward himself with the help of a Firaga, readying his scythe for an overhand slash.

Sora brought the blade of the weapon down early, causing the blade to slash down directly in Jaune's path. The Keyblade wielder's eyes widened in surprise and he tried to slide to a stop, barely being able to do so before crashing directly into the blade. That was not enough, however. Sora pulled forward with both of his hands on the weapon's new handle and brought his legs up, bringing his full momentum to bear on Jaune's nose. He jumped off and flipped, pulling the scythe from the ground and spinning to attack Jaune.

The Keyblade wielder was still stumbling backwards, and as such was unable to defend. Sora's attack slashed across his chest, sending him stumbling again to the left. Sora spun with his previous attack and slashed in the other direction. Jaune stumbled to his right before Sora began to spin the weapon around himself and deliver a single, unending whirlwind of attacks that slashed down into Jaune a thousand times over in a few moments. Finally, Sora brought the weapon around and swept Jaune's feet out from beneath him completely before slamming his weapon's top into the Keyblade Wielder's chest and launching the most powerful Sparkga he could summon. Jaune cried out in his first demonstration of actual pain throughout the entire fight and was thrown away by the force of the explosion.

Sora didn't give him any time to recover from the onslaught, and set magical mines where Jaune was going to land. The flames erupted as soon as Jaune hit the wall and he was thrown back at Sora again. The Keyblade Wielder readied his scythe again and brought it around in a huge, two handed blow as if it were a bat. The top of the blade slammed into Jaune's forehead and he hit the ground at the center of the square, shattering the fountain and causing water to drench him. Sora raised his weapon above his head. "Thunder!" he screamed, and lightning erupted all around Jaune, channeling through the water. Jaune roared in pain until the lightning died down and Sora walked towards his friend.

"Now, maybe that smacked some sense into you," Sora said. He stopped at the top of the stairs leading down into the center of the square and let his weapon rest on his shoulder.

In response, Jaune groaned and pushed himself to his feet. "Okay. I was not expecting that," the Keyblade wielder said. He turned his head to the side and spat out a small globule of blood. He wiped it with his sleeve and looked down at the streak of red on the black. Jaune looked back up at Sora and sighed. "I didn't want to hurt you, Sora. But it looks like I don't really have a choice now, do I?"

"You're two months into using that Keyblade Jaune. You've shown me everything you could possibly know," Sora retorted. He took a deep breath and slammed the base of his weapon into the ground beside him, then pointed at Jaune with his left hand. "Give up."

Jaune shook his head. "Normally, you'd probably be right. From the stories you told us, it took you years to learn how to transform your Keyblade or use Za magic," Jaune agreed. Then he let his head fall slightly so he could glare at Sora out of the tops of his eyes. There was a massive burst of Dark energy surrounding Jaune, and the water around him dissipated from the massive explosion of energy that pulsed from his shoulders. The energy slammed into Sora and he stumbled backwards a step or two from sheer surprise.

That was... "Jaune, be careful!" Sora shouted, the fight forgotten. "All that Darkness could destroy you if -"

"If I let it. I know," Jaune responded, the shadows around him rippling with power. "But I'm not taking this power for the sake of power."

"Jaune, I'm your friend. Stop," Sora begged, worried about him. If he slipped for even a second, there might not be a Jaune for them to try bringing back to the Light.

"I'm in this to save Pyrrha and destroy the people who destroyed her," Jaune snarled, throwing his free arm across his chest animatedly.

"Salem and Cinder did that!" Sora protested.

"But only because of Ozpin and his circle!" Jaune shouted, the Darkness around him intensifying. "Besides, once I have Pyrrha back..."

"Jaune... He trusted her to be a hero. Shouldn't you?" Sora inquired. Jaune's head fell to his chest and the shadows around him disappeared. "He only did it because he had to."

"... So am I, Sora," Jaune responded. He raised his slightly tear streaked face and summoned the Darkness around his body again. Sora turned his head to the side in confusion as the energy began to escalate around them. "Now as I was saying, time with the creator of the first Keyblades has unlocked their secrets pretty quickly." He held his arms out to his sides and summoned his Keyblade back to his right hand. The Darkness intensified and shifted so that the entire aura surrounded the weapon in his hand instead of his entire body.

Sora grunted in surprise. Was he..? That wasn't possible. Jaune was only in his first few months of using a Keyblade! How could he... "Jaune..."

Jaune roared once more, and the Keyblade in his hand flashed with Dark power. The weapon was replaced by total blackness, its shape shifting slowly. Some of it slowly disappeared, the energy reappearing in his left hand seconds later. The energy in both of his hands shifted again and the basket of his Keyblade disappeared, the weapon in his right hand shortening and turning into a black short sword, and that in his left forming a circular buckler strapped to his wrist. Jaune twirled his weapon around him before raising his buckler in front of him. He angled his sword over his buckler and readied for battle.

"Still Pyrrha," Sora noted.

" _Always_ Pyrrha," Jaune stated.

Sora nodded and got into his own battle stance, sliding his right foot back and raising his scythe over his right shoulder. This may not have been possible, but it was what had happened anyways. Didn't matter now: time to fight.

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _Three Years Before the First Keyblade War_

Ozpin stood silently in the shadows, allowing them to mask him completely in the dark sewers of his tower. The place he had trained all of his students all those years ago and conferred upon them their names and weapons. He briefly wondered how Skye was doing; they had not spoken to one another in months, when his student had alerted him to an encounter he had with the adversary. It had not been a personal battle, instead Skye only saw them passing through the center of the city he was visiting, clad in the same black coat as he. He had overheard a return to Daybreak Town when they had spoken with some one. He had then spoken with Oz about it, allowing the man to track down this enemy as quickly as possible. The War would continue without them, but destroying the enemy would make it easier to ensure the Darkness did not advance unabated.

Unfortunately, he was nearly certain that the person rooting about in the gears grinding along on the path before him was not the Adversary. For one, this person was a child, no older than fourteen. There was no way for him to have been responsible for all the destruction the Adversary had released. For another, this young man had an aura of pure Light radiating from his shoulders. He wanted nothing more than to do right by the world. "Sorry, Buddy, but I have to do this," the boy said, snapping Ozpin out of his thoughts. He cocked his head to the side as the young man summoned one of the dozens of Starlight Keyblades, or 'Failures' as Salem had labeled them, to his hand. The boy raised the weapon and aimed it at the wall of gears for a moment before firing off a beam of light. The path that Ozpin had hidden behind the gears groaned and appeared as the gears – Ozpin's favorite décor – slid apart. Seems the boy was clever, to boot. Maybe after everything ended – Ozpin grimaced, poor choice of words he supposed... Maybe after the _war_ ended this boy would make for a useful ally.

The boy was dressed in a black jacket that ended at the bottom of his ribs with what looked to be a very personal scarf wrapped around his neck and over the jacket's collar. His white shirt was bound by a belt that had a satchel attached and looked like it was filled with various useful items such as potions or elixirs he could use to heal himself as well as a few magical items he could use to destroy the Heartless he hunted down for his Union. He had black combat gloved covering his fists that matched his boots, into which were tucked grey pants with silver rivets and black, leathery lines moving around the leg in a sharp and snake like pattern. The young man had silver hair, which Ozpin thought made him look like they were related. Perhaps distantly.

The boy turned around suddenly, an angry look in his eyes. "Come on out. I know you're there!" the boy shouted. He raised his Keyblade in front of him and readied for battle. Ozpin smirked but remained where he was. He believed he was hiding his presence well, which meant the boy was more powerful than he had believed. Maybe the boy had only sensed him for a moment, and would forget about him a moment later.

Imagine Ozpin's surprise when someone else stepped out of the shadows a dozen feet before him. He... he hadn't even seen them! That didn't make any sense! How could _he_ have not seen them, given how much the Keyblade had strengthened him? "Who are you?" the young man snapped, sliding his foot forward a little and narrowing his eyes on the figure.

This person was clothed in the same long, black coat as Ozpin was. The figure's, however, was tighter at the waist and on the arms, both of which helped to reveal that the figure had a thin and feminine figure. The Adversary, it seemed, was a woman. Ozpin was disappointed that he had not even considered that possibility prior to seeing this. He frowned and took a step forward, only to freeze in worry when the woman summoned a glowing, silver and gold Keyblade shaped like an old style skeleton key. A trio of circles dangled at the keychain's base. Ozpin swallowed his fear; this looked just like the pair of keys that made up the **χ** -blade's body.

When the woman finally spoke, her voice was at once painfully loud and disturbingly silent, making the man wonder how he could even hear her speaking. "Put that down and leave."

"Are you the person behind all this?" the young man snapped. He took a half step forward and glared harder at the woman. The hood ruffled as the figure cocked its head to the side. "You!?" Obviously he could see beneath the hood's lip. "How could you..?"

The black hood shook to the left and then the right, conveying a heavy sense of disappointment. "How utterly lacking of imagination," the Adversary muttered. Ozpin held in a gasp and summoned his weapon to his hand as the murderous intent of the woman suddenly erupted to fill the entire hallway. He ran forward to stop the Adversary, but was too late. She appeared behind the young man with Keyblade held in the hand that had been empty the moment before, her weapon hand empty now. The young man blinked in surprise, wondering what had just happened. Then he gasped in pain and fell flat on his face, Keyblade shattering in his hand. The Adversary turned around slowly, her face hidden by the unnatural shadows that the Coats could cast over one's face, and lowered her blade to her left side. "And how utterly lacking in skill."

It was at this point that Ozpin finally broke out of the shadows and stopped. He stared at his Adversary and raised his Keyblade to prepare for battle. The figure took half a step backwards upon catching sight of the Keyblade in Ozpin's hand. "You're one of Oz's students, aren't you?" the figure inquired after a moment.

"I _am_ one of _Ozpin's_ students, yes," Ozpin snapped in Skye's voice. He looked down at the boy on the ground and cautiously walked towards him. The woman did nothing to stop him as Ozpin crouched and checked to see if the young man was still alive. He was... barely. Oz stood up and reentered his battle stance. "What are you doing in Ozpin's tower?"

"Oz hasn't used it since..." The woman gestured at the Keyblade in Ozpin's hand.

"I believe he prefers _Ozpin_ ," he reiterated. "No one calls him Oz."

"We'll see," the woman said with a shrug. Then she ran towards Ozpin faster than he could see and soon loomed over him with her gold and silver blade ready to bear down and destroy him. Ozpin raised his Keyblade and blocked the attack, sliding the flat along her weapon until he was close enough to shoulder her in the gut. She stumbled a few feet back until Ozpin looped the Teeth of his blade around his opponent's leg.

Or should have. His aim was off by a few inches and he hit nothing but air. Ozpin's eyes widened behind his hood, only for him to be snapped out of his thoughts by a Keyblade blow to the face. He spun uselessly and grabbed at his hood to keep it covering his face. He raised his weapon to block the next incoming blow, and the force of the impact traveled through his entire being. He shoved her away and looked over his shoulder for a moment at the unconscious young man. He had to defeat this woman before the kid died.

Ozpin summoned a burning aura of Light around his weapon and he slashed with powerful and violent, yet carefully placed, at his opponent. She brought her weapon up and deflected the incoming blows one at a time, letting the light dissipate uselessly against the length of her blade. She slammed the last one towards the ground and elbowed him in the face. He ignored the pain and managed to bring his weapon up to crash into the woman's chin. She flinched backwards quickly, more out of surprise than pain, and her hood fell down with its momentum. Oz did not see her face at first, and lashed out with another two handed attack. The woman grabbed the blade with her hand and slammed her weapon down on Ozpin's wrist. He roared in pain as the bones in his arm shattered and he fell to his knees. He finally looked up to examine the woman's face and the pain disappeared.

"Salem?"

The woman's black and blood red eyes examined him silently, as if trying to see into his Heart. She dropped his Keyblade and used her now empty hand to pull his hood down. "Hmph," she responded simply. She dismissed her new weapon and crossed her arms. "Now, I was not expecting this. You really did have me fooled, Ozpin. I really thought you were... Wait, does this mean the Thief is the one out there? Ah, yes, that makes sense."

Ozpin wasn't really processing what she was saying. "Salem?" he repeated.

The woman sighed and shook her head before looking up at the ceiling of the hallway. "Well, this forces my plans up a little bit. That's fine," she muttered. She looked down at Ozpin again and smiled softly. "Come with me?"

"You're... You're trying to destroy everything?" Ozpin asked, still unsure what this was about.

"Destroy everything? No," Salem said. She sounded more disappointed in his statement than anything else. "I'm trying to remake it."

Ozpin surged to his feet, teary eyes filled with rage. "With Darkness!? What kind of World would that be!?"

"Better. Light is weak. If it were not, then Darkness would not be overtaking it, destroying it." The woman summoned a blaze of black flames around her right hand and raised it in front of her face to examine it dispassionately. She looked like whoever she had been before had died. "I just want to see it, really. I just want to see what it would look like." Her black eyes became hungry and somewhat manic, the Darkness giving Ozpin pause. She saw this and shook her head. "I don't know if I should let you keep this." She raised her left hand and summoned his Keyblade to her hand, surprising the man.

"How..? But that's -"

"Children always listen to their mother, Ozpin!" the woman chastised. "As I was saying, it wouldn't matter if I left it with you. It belongs to me regardless." She frowned. "I missed you, if it was any consolation."

It was Ozpin's turn to shake his head as a result of his disappointment. He expected that he should feel angry or distraught, but all he felt upon seeing Salem's face was... hollow. Of course she was their adversary; she knew the Keyblades better than anyone and had access to his students, knowledge of their desires and hopes... their Prices. "I'd say the same, but it seems the woman I knew really did die all those years ago," Ozpin retorted when he finally gathered the will to speak to the husk in front of him.

"Cold," Salem muttered. She tossed the Keyblade to the ground in front of Oz and her face actually looked hurt. She took a slow breath and frowned. "Well, I suppose that makes us enemies, Ozpin... The offer will always stand, though."

"Why?"

Her eyes became disturbed and manic, the result of all the destruction she had wrought in her wake – of the countless killed to create her Keyblades. Something in her had died as she chased after something she could use to create a weapon of incredible power. Maybe it was for Light once, or maybe it was only ever about knowledge. Now it was about power and destruction. No matter what it was about, actions like those leave an indelible taint on the soul."Because I can!"

Ozpin growled and summoned his Keyblade to his free hand, then ran at her as quickly as he could. He would destroy her if he – The Keyblade stopped long before it could have hit her face. "Meaningless," the woman muttered. She turned around and summoned a Portal of Light. "Light casts Shadows, Oz. Whatever it is you do to try and stop me..." She smiled over her shoulder with a cruel grin before pulling her hood back up. "It will just help me in the end." Then she stepped through her portal and it disappeared behind her.

Oz watched where she had disappeared for a moment, then spun on his heel and sprinted towards the nearly dead boy. One flash of bright green energy later, Ozpin's wrist was healed and the boy was awake. Still dying, but awake. "Ozpin? I thought you were gone?" the boy said as his eyes slid open.

"How do you know who I am?" Ozpin asked. He knelt beside the young man and his Keyblade vanished in a flash of emerald light.

"Oh, uh... You saved me once when I was a kid," the boy explained. He tried to sit up and his eyes widened in incredible pain. He fell back down immediately.

"Careful. I... I can't heal you. It's too much," Ozpin explained calmly. He shook his head and pulled out a vial from the boy's bag as well as a roll of gauze and began to bathe the roll of cloth in the elixir. At the most, this would only ease the pain. "You do not have long."

"Heh... I'm suddenly really glad I didn't drag my friend into this," the boy muttered to himself. He sighed and looked up at Oz, who had begun wrapping the roll around the young man's chest. "You have to stop her. I've been looking into the book, and I think she's the -"

"I wrote it and she is," Ozpin stated. He focused harder on wrapping the gauze around the boy. "But I cannot."

"Is it because you love her?"

Ozpin was taken aback at the statement and found himself frozen. Was it really quite so transparent with him, that he had once loved the woman she had been? He shook his head to clear these thoughts and sighed. "That's not why. She made the Keyblades, Boy. They belong to her," Ozpin explained and he once more helped the young man with his pain

"Then make a new one!" the kid shouted. He winced and slowly raised a hand to his chest to clutch at the source of the pain. "She needs to be stopped."

"You don't know what you're asking," Ozpin muttered bitterly.

The boy set his jaw and begged, "Then tell me."

Ozpin nodded slowly before answering. "Keyblades have a deep cost to them. The notes I found of hers... they state there are two kinds of Keyblades. The ones she created for my students, and the one she is using right now."

"What's the difference?" the boy asked innocently, not knowing the price of what he asked.

Ozpin sighed and tied up the bandage on the boy's chest. "First, you must understand that Keyblades – yours, mine... They are forged from Hearts stolen and shattered," he spat, voice bitter and angry. "And if I read her notes correctly, the one she was using was a more powerful variant, given its similarities to the... the **χ** -blade. I think that it was what she believed would be created when a Heart willingly became a Keyblade."

The kid's eyes widened as he understood what Ozpin was saying. "But who would agree to just being a weapon for..." the young man searched her words tentatively to avoid insulting Ozpin as well, "... her?"

"I don't know. Lies could be the source, or perhaps coercion. I am unsure," Ozpin said. He lifted the boy and brought him over to the railing so he could sit up in his last moments. The two remained silent for some time. "You came here for answers. Simply ask."

The young man looked down and shook his head. "I'm pretty sure I learned more than I wanted already," he pointed out sadly. Ozpin nodded. The boy added on, "She controlled your Keyblade."

"As she said, her creations obey her before any other," he replied. He sat down beside the boy, it would not be fair to force the boy to die alone, not when this was at least partially his fault. "Without a Keyblade, I cannot stop her, and the world will plunge into Darkness forever."

"Peachy last words to hear," the kid laughed. "End of the world is coming and it can't be stopped." He looked over at Ozpin. "Do you know how to make a new Keyblade?"

Ozpin looked at the ground. "I wish that I did not," he admitted. He pulled his knees up and let his elbows rest on them, his hands dangling between his legs.

"And if you stole someone's Heart to make one, I'd agree with you," the boy agreed. He grabbed his wound and groaned as his hand came back bloody. "But now if I sacrificed myself for it." Ozpin turned and stared wide eyed at the young man. "Hey, I'm dying anyways. Least I can do is find a way to save my friends."

"I... would rather not," Ozpin responded, holding back his more vehement protests.

"Then the World dies." The young man grabbed Ozpin's shoulder and smiled sadly. "You gotta do it, okay?"

"... You don't know – _I_ do not know what you are asking. I don't know happens to _you_ if I do this."

"Well, we don't have a choice!" the boy shouted angrily. Ozpin glared at him for a while, then gave in. This was not some death wish, but a sacrifice. He could respect one's sacrifice. Ozpin affirmed that he would do as he was asked, then stood up and summoned his Keyblade to his hand. He placed it gently over the boy's chest. "Just do me a favor – Don't name the weapon after me, okay? Ephemer doesn't make for any permanent sounding titles, huh?"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora slashed down at Jaune's shoulder with his scythe, the red light making it up flashing and leaving behind a trail of energy as it arced down. Jaune jumped to the side and brought his buckler up to punch the attack out of the way. Sora flowed with the defensive redirect and brought his weapon around to horizontally slash at Jaune's neck, this blow being slapped aside by Jaune's sword. The pommel slammed into Sora's temple, stunning him until he felt a pair of hands grab him by the hood and belt, lifting him up and then tossing him, weapon and all, out of the center of the square.

Sora's landing was heavy, and he groaned as he pushed himself to his feet. He yelped and jumped back when the buckler flew out and bounced off the ground where his head had been a moment earlier. "Stop!" Sora shouted at the shield, freezing it in space and giving him a split second to catch sight of what was on its face. The grinning ram that made up the crossguard of the Keyblade was at the center of the buckler. The edge was made of four black wings, their curves making up the circular edge of the shield. Aside from the questionable decorations, its design was remarkably similar to the shield Sora had seen in Jaune's Dive, down to the inward curves that marked the horizontal axis of the shield.

The loss of the shield's movement also gave Sora time to sprint towards Jaune and unleash a flurry of slash attacks against him. Jaune narrowed his eyes and held the small, black shortsword in front of him. The blade was almost half the length of the Keyblade's, and the end curved to create a shape similar to the teeth of the Keyblade. Jaune deflected the incoming blows with his now much shorter weapon before delivering a back kick to Sora's midsection.

Sora rolled backwards with the blow and brought his scythe up to stop him and rebound with a Firaga. He spun forward and the resulting blow sent Jaune flying. Or would have, had the Stop spell not worn off on the shield, allowing Jaune to summon it back and take the blow without trouble. He slid the shield onto his back and grabbed his sword with both hands, pulling down with his left and causing the short sword's handle to elongate into a long handle fit for a spear. The base slammed into Sora, who was still mid air, and he was suddenly upside down with both of Jaune's feet heading for his head.

Jaune landed on his hands and flipped back to his feet, spinning the spear around him. Sora got to his feet and growled before deciding to do the same. He twirled his scythe around him as quickly as he could and the two advanced on one another slowly, allowing the momentum in their hands to build up as much as possible. Jaune and Sora exited the build up at almost the same time, with Sora bringing his in an upward slash and Jaune attacking downward. The two weapons collided in the center. Sora felt the massive blow travel up his arms and the scythe hit the ground. Jaune pulled out his shield and threw it so the indentation on the shield trapped the scythe's handle against the ground.

Sora, in response, ran forward and slammed his shoulder into Jaune's midsection, a last ditch effort to tackle him away. Simultaneously, Sora let go of the energy holding the scythe together, freeing it from Jaune's shield. Jaune hit the ground beneath Sora, and the former Keyblade Wielder brought his hand up to Jaune's throat to hold him down, and began to punch him in the face. If he could just knock him out, maybe they could help him.

Jaune was not taking the blows with that in mind, however. He grabbed onto the wrist of the hand around his throat and tore it off of him like it was nothing, twisting until Sora yelped in pain and fell backwards, making sure his free right hand landed on the hilt of his sword. Jaune let go of Sora and summoned his sword and shield back to his hands before bringing them down to defeat Sora. The former Keyblade Wielder reacted like lightning, however, and brought his sword up to block the attack. He remained on his back and grunted when the blow connected, causing the stone beneath him to crack and push him into the ground.

Jaune looked like he wanted to say something to his friend, but then he shook his head. The weapons in his hands flashed and became one Keyblade again, held with both hands. Sora growned and slid his feet back to place both soles of his feet directly on Jaune's chest. He kicked out and Jaune flipped over him, giving them both time to scrabble to their feet. Both of them began to pant heavily; this fight was the most equal either had been part of in a while, and it was dragging on too long for either of their tastes. Especially for Sora – he knew that Jaune already had more power than him, and that the longer their fight lasted, the more the scales would tip in Jaune's favor. Keyblade Wielders have immense stamina reserves, while Sora himself was simply hiding how tired and bruised he was.

"What? No more words?" Sora asked, shooting the cockiest grin he could at the Keyblade Wielder across from him. Jaune frowned and ignored him. "Cause I could keep this going all day. You?"

Jaune took a deep breath and steadied his breathing. "Of course," he responded. Sora sighed and reached back down to his belt to grab the Wayfinder buckled there, eliciting a laugh from Jaune. "We both know how that turned out last time."

"Yep. A tie, I think," Sora pointed out. He hoped he could still do this, he hadn't really tried this since it had happened at Beacon. "I'm tired of ties."

"Me too," Jaune agreed. He got into an attack position and ran towards Sora again, barely letting Sora have enough time to follow through on what he was doing.

The Wayfinder glowed brightly once more, though this time the Light was a pure white instead of a bloody red. The sword in Sora's right hand lit up with the same energy, creating a blade longer than the natural one of the weapon and forged from pure Light. Other magical energies began to pour out of the star in Sora's hand: Fire, Water, Wind, Darkness, Light, and Earth. Each of these energies became part of a swirling wall around the Keyblade Wielder that blocked Jaune's incoming blow and gave Sora a little bit of breathing room. The energies began to sift into their six different types and coagulate into six differently shaped key weapons. The floated around Sora slowly, steadily losing speed until they hovered around him. Sora took a step towards Jaune, and the six weapons reacted immediately, rocketing to his back to form a pair of wings.

Sora frowned. Just activating this... thing was pretty tiring, and Sora could feel himself running on fumes. He had to beat Jaune _really_ fast or he'd have no chance at victory. "Scared?" Sora supplied.

"Never again," Jaune responded.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Qrow was sitting in the main room of the house Ice Queen had helped them get during their extended stay in Atlas. Speaking of, she was there too. She was sitting on the opposite side of the couch, leaving space for at least four people between them. Qrow was playing games on his Scroll, murdering dozens of evil magic ninjas in an attempt to avoid the ever heightening awkwardness that now existed between him and Ice Queen, while the woman herself was sitting with her legs crossed, looking in any direction save the one that would cause her to see Qrow. So far, only Yang was willing to tease them about this; Ruby was too oblivious to things like this, and Neptune and Ice Princess were too busy with continuing their relationship to notice someone else's.

Row grunted in surprise when his game suddenly paused and the screen turned into a picture of Oz's face. The Huntsman shrugged and answered the call. "Oz? Didn't we just talk?"

"Go to channel seven. Now," the ancient warrior commanded. "... And I'm sure that Miss Rose and her friends will want to see this."

Qrow raised one eyebrow before looking over at Ice Queen. "Can you get everyone in here?" he asked. The woman glanced at him, then disappeared, glad to have an excuse to get away from their awkward interactions – or rather their lack thereof. Qrow returned his attention to the call and picked up the TV's remote. "Okay, Oz. What's going on? You sound worried."

"That is because I am worried, Qrow," the man responded quietly. "Very."

Qrow grunted an affirmative and flicked the television on, flipping through channels until he got to the news station. "What could scare... Oh." Sora was on screen in a fight with what looked like Blondie, the two of them attacking with spells and other things that would scare the masses. Sora had six key looking weapons floating above his shoulders like wings that he was using to block the massive, incoming Darkness that Jaune was unleashing in his direction. "Tch, I get it now." There was a string of information at the top of the screen, bright yellow letters over a blue banner that flashed to draw attention away from the battle: _Widespread Panic as Two Unknown Figures Destroy Vale's Main Square in Battle to Death._ "Yeah, I can see where this would worry you, Oz."

"If Jaune unleashes too much Darkness, it could wake up the Dragon."

"Which means Schnee'll use DISC. Dammit," Qrow grumbled. He shook his head and sighed. "We're coming up with a plan to break in to Blue Fairy but..." He trailed off when he saw Sora unleash all six of his blades against Jaune at once, the weapons arcing through the air. Blondie only managed to block a few of them, but was still tossed aside by the combined force of the one that looked like it was on fire and the one made out of Darkness.

"So what did you want us to see..." Ruby asked as she entered the room. She jumped over the back of the couch and sat beside her uncle with wide, surprised eyes. "Sora! What's going on!?"

"Blondie and Sora are having a go of it," Qrow explained. He put his Scroll down and tapped a button. "Oz, you're on speaker."

"Headmaster Ozpin, what happened?" Ruby asked as Weiss, Neptune, Yang entered the room behind Winter.

"Whoa! I _really_ need to spar with you and Sora..." Yang muttered when Sora launched the most powerful spells he could from the tips of each weapon, each spell the same one that his weapon was made from. Jaune slapped them away with one move and dashed towards Sora. The younger man barely managed to dodge each of the incoming blows. "And, apparently, I need to fight Jaune too. Would never have guessed it..." She grinned widely, a stark contrast to the worried looks of everyone around her. "I cannot wait!"

"Perhaps we should focus on this battle for now, Miss Xiao Long?" Ozpin suggested.

"Oops... Hi, Headmaster," Yang replied. She brought her robotic limb up and scratched the back of her head, grinning embarrassedly. She jumped over the couch and plopped down next to her sister, followed by Neptune then Weiss and finally Winter.

Yang glanced over at her sister. "Come on, your boy toy will be fine," Yang said. She slapped her sister's shoulder. "Besides, you can just kiss all the boo boos away."

"Yang..." Ruby protested halfheartedly. She grimaced when Sora turned the six floating weapons into a buzzsaw that he threw at Jaune, only for the Keyblade Wielder to jump through the center of the attack and hit Sora's head with a spin kick that he continued into a spinning slash. Fenrir flew from Sora's hands. Ruby knew that it wasn't going well for Sora, and that meant it was probably just going to get worse. Sora blocked the next attack and slashed at Jaune, the bow parried by the black Keyblade in his hand. "Stay safe, Sora..."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora was not staying safe. He threw the buzzsaw again at Jaune, with the man doing the same exact thing he had last time. However, as he soared through the center of the circle, Sora roared and pulled his hand back. The keys listened and inverted so their blades pointed inward and moved with Jaune, shooting towards him before he could attack Sora.

Jaune was quick enough to respond, however, and summoned a powerful Refleza around his body. The keys that Sora had summoned slammed into the powerful wall of energy and immediately shattered into nothingness. Jaune landed in a roll and the now defenseless Sora felt a massive backlash as the last of his energy left him. The blade of Light around Fenrir flickered out and died after a moment, just in time for Jaune to unleash a lightning fast onslaught of attacks on Sora.

The Keyblade slammed into his chest; left then right Sora was slapped aside like a toy, and he could do nothing to stop it. He had absolutely nothing left in him to fight with against Jaune. The next attack might kill him. The blade approached his head and Sora shut his eyes. The blow never came. Instead, there was a quiet clank, the sound of a Keyblade being lowered and its keychain jangling with the movement. Sora felt a pair of hands pick him up and softly put him on the ground. "I said I didn't want to hurt you," Jaune stated. He unzipped Sora's jacket and pulled out the Journal, pocketing it himself a moment later. He stood over Sora as he finally noticed the noise of the bullheads outside of his boundary, news crews filming their entire fight; neither warrior had noticed through the din of their battle. From how the cameras were focusing on them, it seemed obvious they thought Jaune was going to try executing Sora. He looked down at his nearly unconscious friend and shook his head. "You'll be okay."

Jaune turned around and walked away from Sora, wanting to put some space between his friend and what he was about to do. Jaune summoned his Keyblade back to his right hand and, with his other, pulled the Keychain of Ozpin's former Keyblade out. "Jaune." The blonde raised an eyebrow and turned around to glare at the source of the voice. Sora was standing up, hands on his knees to support himself. He looked like he was going to fall unconscious any moment, and a thin line of blood was trailing down over his right eye. "Give me..." Sora took another deep breath and picked up Fenrir slowly, his hand barely holding onto the weapon's handle. "... back the... the journal."

Jaune stared at his opponent. "This battle is over, Sora. Give it up," Jaune ordered. Sora shook his head, causing Jaune to sigh in disappointment. "I'm leaving Sora. You can't stop me." He dropped the Keychain and tossed his Keyblade to his left hand, leaving the blade hovering above the charm on the ground.

"Is that Oz's Keychain?" Sora asked between panting breaths.

"It was," Jaune said, then he coated his Keyblade in a combination of Darkness and Light. "But not anymore." The blade flashed as it flew down, tip colliding with the charm on the ground. There was a moment in which nothing happened, the air sucking in. Then the Keychain shattered. There was a pulse of Light as the remnants of energy within the old Keyblade's Heart was suddenly released. Jaune turned towards Beacon in the distance, waiting for the next part of the plan to begin. And... nothing happened. Jaune frowned and looked down at the dissolving pieces of the Keychain, wondering what was going on.

He shook his head and turned back to Sora, who was glaring at him angrily. "What would you do if Ruby died because of Ozpin?" Jaune inquired, hoping to make his friend understand him. Sora's gaze fell as he felt for just a moment what Jaune felt, understanding the appeal of everything Salem offered. Jaune raised his hand above his head, summoning a dense ball of Darkness to his palm. If the Keychain's death didn't do anything, he would have to help it. "I'm glad you understand." Jaune let loose a massive beam of Darkness straight up and deactivated the barrier holding him and Sora in their arena of battle. The blast flew up and was visible for thousands of miles, with reports later claiming individuals in the Vacuan desert, the Mistralian cliffs, or the Atlesian city saw a thin black beam bisecting the horizon.

After a few seconds of letting the energy fly straight up, avoiding any possibility of it hurting anyone, Jaune let his hand fall to his side. "Goodbye, Sora." Then he turned on his heel and walked through the Corridor of Darkness he had just summoned.

Sora stared at the spot where the portal winked shut. "Dammit," he grunted, then he toppled forward and drifted into the land of dreams, where things were much better.

He was roused from a nice one where he had defeated Salem at their first meeting, and was now hanging with Ruby, Jaune, and the others on a beach. That went black and was replaced with Ozpin saying, "Sora. Sora, wake up."

The young man's eyes drifted slowly open and he groaned in dull, aching pain. "Ugh, five more minutes," Sora half protested.

"You're okay!" Nora shouted excitedly. She jumped forward, hammer on her back, and was barely stopped in time by Ozpin.

"That was an insane fight, man!" Sun shouted. "You were awesome, and I've seen you take out a dragon!"

Sora looked around. They were in one of the apartments Ozpin had bought. "It wasn't my best," Sora admitted. He sat up suddenly, ignoring the tunneling of his vision, and desperately clutched at the now empty pocket where he had put the Journal. He knew it was gone, but confirming it still made him a little depressed. He turned his semi downtrodden look to Ozpin. "Jaune took the journal."

"Why would he do that?" Ren inquired simply. He frowned and shook his head. "It is just a book, is it not?"

"Well..." Sora said, bobbing his head from side to side.

"That's not a good _well_ ," Sun pointed out.

Blake asked the next question: "What was special about this book?"

"Apparently it could open time and re create things that don't exist right now," Sora explained, grimacing. "I don't know how she wold know that, though..."

"Because I wrote one," Ozpin muttered. He stood up and looked at his students. "DISC must be stopped now at all costs."

"Why do we need to work harder to stop literally the worst thing that could happen?" Sun asked dryly.

"Because if it happens, the Opening will happen and the Journal will bring the Realm of Darkness back," Sora said as he figured it out. "Countless Heartless will spill in and swarm across the World."

"Oh, so... the literal worst thing that could happen just got worse," Sun muttered. He grimaced and shook his head. "Great, I always wanted to prevent the end of the world with my best friends."

"Don't knock it til you try it," Sora joked. He immediately regretted it, as his own laughter caused the aches to flare up. "Ow..."

 _ **R W B Y**_

General James Ironwood was currently working quietly and diligently at his desk, approving requisitions and other material requests from around the military. He sighed and put down his Scroll a few moments later, exchanging work for rubbing his temples and groaning. This had become much more painful in recent weeks; he had not seen Winter in a very long time and was sure that whatever it was she was planning with Qrow fell well within the bounds of 'Treasonous Activity.' And then there was the matter of her father, upon whom the Atlesian council was bestowing more and more responsibilities. At this point, Ironwood felt like a glorified secretary for the man. General of the most powerful military on the planet... sounded rather hollow when you had very little actual control over that military. But he had his own loyalists, men and women who followed him because they believed he was right about the DISC project.

For instance, the man in charge of all reconnaissance officers observing the former Beacon Academy Grounds in Vale and the Dragon Grimm therein. "Sir," the man said as the door opened and he walked through. He was a man of average height and build, with dark hair and plain features. A completely forgettable face. One did not become the leader of the Atlesian spooks by standing out, after all.

Ironwood looked up and stopped rubbing his head. "Colonel," Ironwood greeted.

"You'll need to see this," the man said, cutting past any pleasantries that they may have usually exchanged after a long while of seeing one another. He pulled his Scroll from his pocket and flicked the screen towards the General's. The device _dinged_ to acknowledge it had received information on a private channel, and the General opened the message a half second later.

It was a video file, short, of the Dragon in Vale. It was zoomed in as far as possible, focusing on the creature's head, locked in an eternal roar of rage because it was frozen on Beacon's shattered, tallest spire as was usual. "This was taken the night after the battle that occurred in Vale Plaza," the spymaster explained, standing at attention.

"I don't understand, what's going on?" Ironwood inquired after watching through the five second video file a few times.

"It took me a few times to see it as well, Sir," the spymaster assured. He took a breath. "Focus on the creature's eye when you watch again."

Ironwood did as suggested and frowned. Something felt off that time. "I..." He shook his head and rewound the video, watching the eye even more carefully.

Halfway through, he realized what he had seen. "Is there any other time that the Dragon has made any movement like this before?" he asked, quickly deleting the file from his Scroll and deactivating the device.

"No Sir, it's never blinked once before this."

Ironwood grimaced and slammed his prosthetic fist onto the face of his desk, leaving a round dent in the center of the metal making it up. "So the fight, it woke the creature up?" he asked.

"As far as I can tell, Sir," the spymaster responded dutifully.

"Damn... Hide this for as long as you can from Schnee," Ironwood finally said, surging from his seat. He looked down at his wrist to check the time and nodded. That would do. "Can you trust the man who brought you this information?"

"The spy, yes. But it passed through half a dozen hands before reaching my desk, Sir. It's not a matter of if, at this point, but of when he sees it," the spymaster reported evenly.

Ironwood sighed. That wouldn't do. _I guess we just have to trust that Qrow and Winter are able to stop Blue Fairy from destroying Vale,_ he grumbled to himself. "Go. You're dismissed," Ironwood said. He walked towards the window overlooking Vale and waited until he heard his door shut once more. _God help us if they can't._


	31. Blue Fairy

**AN:**

 **Hey everybody, what's up? Sorry it took so long. I had tests, and then I was sick this week. I haven't been able to do much until this weekend.**

 **I finally was able to watch the first two episodes of Volume 4, and I'm super excited. Jaune might be my favorite redesign right now aside from Blake's. I thought the first episode was great, though I'm not willing to believe that Cinder, even if she is the Fall Maiden, killed Oz, and I'm surprised that Salem would given how familiar she seems to be with him. On another note, I hope we get some more Qrow soon. The more Qrow the better, honestly.**

 **On to the second episode, I'm pretty sure I hate everyone related to Weiss except Winter (and maybe their mom depending on what she's like). I was hoping Jacques Schnee would be less of a stereotypical 'Douchebag Rich Dad' than he seems so far, just because I feel it's been played to death. Also, her younger brother is super annoying. Hate that kid. Weiss and Winter both are great, and I can't wait to see the casual day drinking Mrs. Schnee. I get the feeling that Weiss and Winter take more after her than their dad given the tension between Weiss and Papa Schnee. I'm also excited for the coming Ren and Nora backstory growth, what with how it's becoming clear they have a bad connection with those bandits.**

 **I'm super excited because last chapter you guys pushed the average number of reviews from 6 per chapter(rounded down) to 7 per chapter! This is awesome! Not only that, but it was also the highest number of reviews I've had for any single chapter! You guys rock!**

 **To gamelover41592: I would really like to include a lot of the things from volume 4, but sadly I don't think I'm going to have the time, in a manner of speaking. The story is going to be rocketing towards the final fight, so the major events and characters are pretty locked in. Allusions will be made in the chapter(s) bridging this arc and the final battle.**

 **To HelpSomeone: I will try to update faster next time; I'm mostly done with my midterms. On top of that, this chapter was almost entirely setup for the next one, so it should be easier to write the next chapter's action oriented plot at a reasonable pace.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Happy (super) belated birthday! I understand not agreeing with what Jaune is doing, and in a couple chapters Jaune is going to face what he's doing and decide if he agrees with what he's doing, either. Jaune is going to have a big chapter as soon as the Blue Fairy chapter couplet is finished and we're going to see if he's truly all the way gone.**

 **To Blazer777: Just for that, I'm never ending this... Kidding, of course. I get it, but to paraphrase Rooster Teeth themselves in the RvB season finale– if you have a story, it deserves to be told even if it isn't canon. Of course, it was never canon given that it's a crossover, but still it's the thought that counts. The story's almost over; from how I've planned it out, there should be nine/ten chapters then an epilogue.**

 **To grimlock987: Don't worry, the story is going to end pretty soon. I'd say the correct estimate would be about the middle of January if gaps between chapters are at their usual, maybe a couple weeks out in either direction. Also, the story is going to be really straightforward from now on. Everything from here on out is the payoff for the grand buildup from the rest of the story.**

 **To goddragonking: Thanks, I hope to keep you entertained!**

 **To Guest: I agree. The end of KH1 seems about the same as how strong Sora is right now. I love Deadpool too; it would be hilarious to see Wade poke holes in the video game mechanics that the characters accept as normal life, or to see him** ** _almost_** **let loose strings of profanities but immediately realize that he's standing right next to Mickey Mouse and that would just be a terrible idea.**

 **To Kingofclubs8129: Don't worry, Sora is getting his Keyblade back soon, at the end of chapter 35. As for thrashing Jaune, sadly Sora won't be the person that beats him down. I have two characters in mind for the last battle where Jaune fights his friends, and Sora'll be too busy with Salem when this is happening.**

 **To Redemption's Avenger: I agree. At this point, due to how the first Book didn't end up coming true because of Oz's lies, Salem doesn't put much stock in prophecies. She will affect change, not wait for it to come to her. Sora won't be a Gray Keyblade Wielder in this story, but his journey has always been about seeing Light at the end of the tunnel and pushing on through the Darkness to see what comes next, and he's trying to help Jaune understand that.**

 **To sethman610: Yeah, the Journal is supposed to be similar at the very least. Maleficent kept comparing it to the Book of Prophecy and saying it had similar abilities, if not exactly the same. Sadly, because of how late in the game we are, I won't be able to introduce any characters from Volume 4 without it seeming rushed. We've got three big events that are all happening almost concurrently, then the final battle. Even getting Penny the time she deserves is going to be difficult, so I don't know if I could manage with all the new characters, even though Tyrian and his weapons seem so cool!**

 **To Remnant7: Sadly, I'm not going to be able to bring Xion in on the story. While I really like her and think she's awesome, I feel like she'll be 'alive' again at the end of KH3, so she'd be at the last battle with Xehanort and died centuries before this story takes place.**

 **To G3r1k: Thanks for the high praise! I hope the rest of it has continued and will continue to impress you!**

 _ **Chapter 31: Blue Fairy**_

A black doorway in reality flashed open in the heart of Atlas, the portal melting into the Darkness of the night. The two red headed warriors, one a woman and the other a man, standing on top of the building ignored the portal and continued their watch on the small shop across the street, which had an interesting amount of 'civilians' milling about it at midnight. "Honestly, Atlas personnel could not act less casual if they were trying their absolute hardest to do so," the man pointed out as three pairs of footsteps echoed behind them. He turned his masked face back to the people exiting the portal and fought off an internal flicker of disgust, at the trio and at himself for working with such base humans. Anything for the greater good, he supposed. "Cinder."

"Adam," the woman responded. She turned her gaze towards the woman with the Faunus, sneering mockingly. "You made a friend... Now, why is she here?"

The woman turned around now and crossed her armored arms. Her red eyes glared out with a severe lack of amusement from behind her mask and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Jeez. She looks like more of a buzz kill than Cinder," Mercury remarked under his breath. Emerald shot him a look telling him to shut up, but he just grinned back at her and winked.

Adam gestured with his physical arm towards the woman beside him. "This is Morrigan. She -"

"Is an enemy of your enemies," Morrigan finished for herself. She looked between Cinder and her flunkies, examining them each in turn. The woman walked around them, getting a closer look at those who had once been her prey, and now were her 'allies.'

Cinder scoffed and stared straight ahead, annoyed by the actions of the woman circling them. "I believe _we_ should be the ones examining _you_."

Morrigan ignored the statement and continued what she was doing. Mercury looked a bit taller and stronger than he had in Raven's memories, and was wearing a long sleeved gray jacket that held tight to his body. His toes were tapping anxiously against the ground and he cast a few nervous glares at Morrigan. To be fair, her sword had appeared out of thin air and she was dragging the point along the ground around him, showering him with sparks of Darkness as she did.

Cinder simply grew annoyed at what was happening. She kicked the sword away when it got too close then stood up straighter, as if to convey superiority. Morrigan scoffed and stopped behind the Maiden to examine the tattoo on the woman's back. She had the oddest feeling that something was slightly off as she did, so she ran through Raven's memories in her mind, a stream of images flashing behind her eyelids for a moment. Dossiers, surveillance... What had once been a Heart outlined by a pair of high heeled shoes was now markedly different. It was as if the shoes had slid through one another and were now halfway through the process of separating on the other side. The main bodies of the shoes drifted apart to form a triangle unconnected to the sliver of skin visible between the top lines. Though, if this impossible pattern persisted, the sliver would become a circle and connect to that triangle. Other than that, Cinder looked the same as ever: angry and imposing. At least to anyone who was not Morrigan.

Emerald was much the same as Mercury, down to her anxiety regarding Morrigan's magic sword. Her hands were on her hips, trying to disguise the fact that she was already reaching for her weaponry. Morrigan let it slide, however; these three terrorists and their Faunus collaborator were her only way to get a chance at sussing out and killing her prey. If she had to help them kill some woman the Blue Fairy division of the Atlesian government was holding for some kind of hideous experiment... well, she was a Nobody. Even if she wanted to raise moral objections regarding what they wanted, she literally could not care as long as it got her what she wanted. "They'll do," Morrigan muttered as she came around again to stand in front of her new partners. She dismissed her sword and Cinder's flunkies became noticeably more comfortable.

Apparently too comfortable.

"Oh, you," Mercury said, flicking his wrist psuedo-dismissively. "You really know how to make a guy feel special."

Morrigan, Cinder, and Emerald all glared at he young man with the same annoyed look in their eyes. "Really? Nothing?" Mercury asked as he looked around. He frowned. "Hmph..."

"So, I'm assuming that you two were able to come up with something vaguely resembling a plan for breaking into this... place?" Cinder inquired a moment later, her voice somehow growing more sour. She smirked condescendingly at the Faunus terrorist.

Adam smirked back at her. "As a matter of fact, Cinder, we _do_ have a plan."

"That's nice," Emerald said saccharinely. Her voice turned mocking. "A change of pace. You aren't _completely_ useless for once."

"Ha!" Mercury snorted.

"Enough," Cinder growled, raising her hand beside her to quiet the two. She lowered it a moment later and cocked her head to the side slightly while fixing her gaze on the new individual. "Morrigan, you said your name was?"

"I take it this means it is finally your turn to examine me? To see if I will be useful to you?" the woman responded. She sighed and held her hands out to her side. "Go ahead. Ask away, Cinder Fall, Maiden of Autumn..." Morrigan shook her masked head at Cinder's quietly surprised glare. Very few knew of the Maidens, even in the highest echelons of any society. Cinder would have to be careful; this woman knew more than she should. Cinder clenched her fist and felt the powers of two other maidens coursing through her. Though it seemed she did not know nearly as much as she believed she knew. "I won't bite."

The Maiden hissed quietly, the noise full of indignant anger at this woman's insolence. Still, she would not let that distract her; she wanted to know as much about any possible allies before going in. "You say you are an enemy of our enemies," Cinder stated, one hand holding the wrist of the other in the small of her back. "Which ones?"

"Those little girls are almost more trouble than they are worth, aren't they?" Morrigan replied. Cinder's eyes narrowed slightly as she remembered the embarrassment she had received at the hands of the Silver Eyed girl. It could have been far worse, had that night played out even slightly different. From what Salem had said, Cinder was lucky she could even speak following the unleashing of the Silver Eyes.

"So you believe those children are going to interfere in our plans, somehow?" Cinder asked, frowning. That _did_ sound like the silver eyes to find herself waist deep in Cinder's plans, regardless of whatever barriers may exist. She doubted that even the walls of a highly defended military research compound could keep that inexplicable luck from working its magic.

Morrigan scoffed and placed her right hand on her hip, leaving the other to dangle. She responded, "I would assume it as an inevitability."

Taurus cut in before Cinder could snap at their new ally. "Besides, we have been keeping ourselves apprised of their actions as well."

"And?" Emerald asked when it became clear Cinder was going to keep glowering at Morrigan.

"And it would seem that they have their eyes on the same place that we do. Our plan has taken their skills and ability to interfere into account," the Faunus terrorist explained, waving his good arm as he did so. "In fact, if we play the game correctly, we may be able to wipe half of Ozpin's pieces off the board."

"And, um, just wondering... who are those specific pieces?" Mercury inquired. The last time he'd seen any of them, they had demolished him, Cinder, Emerald, and Xehanort like it was no trouble at all. He wasn't sure who he was hoping would not show up, but he wanted to know anyways.

"Ozpin's Crow, two Schnee heiresses, a boy with blue hair, the girl with the red hood, and..." Taurus' face grew vengeful and he paused.

"Dramatic effect doesn't really work in real life," Mercury explained dryly.

"The blonde girl," Adam huffed, annoyed that he had been interrupted. His left hand drifted over to his arm of Darkness and he scowled.

"They have their own plan to infiltrate the underground complex," Morrigan elaborated. Her red eyes glimmered behind her mask. "Which, as it so happens, is perfect for us. When we interfere in their plan and lead every guard in the entire facility right towards them, you will have free rein over the whole of Blue Fairy's campus."

"We can work on the details, but the plan seems sufficient," Cinder stated simply. Everything was coming together nicely. Quite nicely indeed.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby took a deep breath as she sat with her back against the wall. Just on the other side of the divide, everyone else taking part in the incursion into Blue Fairy was readying for the event itself. Over the past two weeks, Ruby and Neptune had tried to teach everyone else magic, and Ruby was beginning to understand why it had been so hard for Sora to teach it: Weiss barely even believed in it, while Qrow and Winter's only attempts at the spells had ended up fizzling out uselessly. The only one who took to it like a natural was Yang, who had already been a master of anything fire or explosion related before figuring this out and now was a living breathing Dust Bomb. Ruby had actually asked her sister to tone it down to make sure she didn't end up hurting any of their group during the break in or, God forbid, end up burning the entire city block to the ground.

"You taking a last moment alone?" her Uncle asked. He looked over at the door through which he had just passed. "I get that. Everything you've done so far either had lower stakes or no time to plan. No time to plan, no time to freak out. You just have to _do_. Now though..." Qrow trailed off for a moment, then sat down beside his niece. He took a deep breath. "I'm nervous, too. I -" he froze as an image of an injured woman with snow white hair shot through his mind's eye. "I'm worried about what happens if we mess up. It's normal, Ruby, so don't be embarrassed."

"No, that's not it," Ruby said resolutely. surprising her uncle. She looked over when he didn't respond, and explained. "Even if we mess up, Sora'll stop DISC. And it's not like any of us could get arrested or hurt. After all, we're us!"

Qrow laughed dryly, taking comfort in how assured her voice sounded. "You got that right, Kiddo," he acknowledged, patting the girl's head affectionately. "After all, we're the best in the world, aren't we?"

"You know it, Old Man," Ruby shot, earning a smile from the veteran Huntsman. She hugged the man and sighed contentedly, then frowned and pushed off a moment later. "Why are you worried?"

"This is the first time in a long while I've felt like there's a real danger in the mission," Qrow explained. He looped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her. "I've lost too many people to lose another. You, Firecracker..."

"Weiss' sister?" Ruby suggested.

Qrow took a deep breath and sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, Ice Queen, too," Qrow replied, his voice gravely with repressed laughter. Qrow leaned over and rested his head atop his niece's.

"What happened between you two?" Ruby asked compassionately. Girl couldn't _not_ think about someone else. "Even I've noticed you're acting different."

Qrow laughed. "Guess I was wrong." He cracked a sideways, self deprecating grin. "Look, Ruby, Raven's not the only one in the family who was bad with the lovey dovey stuff." If he had been, who knew how the past decades would have ended up? As it was, he was getting the same feeling now that he would always get back then. Fear.

There were only a few things that made him afraid: Ruby or Firecracker getting hurt, or the possibility he'd ever fight Salem. Truly terrifying things. And now, just like when he was sweating through his jacket around Summer, he found that he couldn't breathe around Winter. With his luck, he'd let this one slip through his fingers too and he'd wind up doing the same with women named Autumn and Spring. He smirked when he thought about how Raven had made fun of him back at Haven for this same exact thing.

"Why not just tell her? What's the worst that can happen?" Ruby asked. She sounded older and wiser than she had just a year earlier; all this responsibility was changing her. Hopefully not too much, though. Some people got really boring when they started acting like that. "The answer is you don't, she marries your best friend, and you watch out for the kids."

Qrow opened his eyes and continued to look at the ceiling, his grin much less convincing now. "How do you know about that?"

"Know about what?" Ruby asked earnestly. Qrow looked over to answer, only for his mouth to slam shut and his eyes to widen in surprise.

It was only for a second, but Qrow was sure he saw a woman sitting beside Ruby. She was slightly ethereal, her pale skin almost glowing as it caught the light. She was smiling, her silver eyes shut and hidden beneath her dangling, red and black hair. A white cloak hung from her shoulders and seemed to wrap around both Ruby and Qrow like a protective wall. "Um..." he muttered. He raised his hand and rubbed his eyes with his palm, then opened them again. The woman was gone. "I... I.." He cleared his throat and pushed himself to his feet. "Let's get in there. Before anything surprising happe-"

"Ruby! Yang! Where are my two little girls!?"

"God dammit, Tai," Qrow groaned, burying his face into one of his palms. "Your timing couldn't be –" Qrow groaned as he realized it would only be a matter of time until that pun was said by either his humor-deaf niece or his similarly unfunny brother in law. "Just... God dammit, Tai."

The door flew open and the rest of their group ran out to look downstairs, where a blonde man was placing a heavy bag on the floor. "Oh, Dad!" Yang called, placing her weapon clad hands behind her. "So... Uh... What's up?"

"What, did I come at a bad... _Tai-m?"_ the man asked, causing everyone to groan in physical pain, save Yang, who was now laughing boisterously.

"And there it is," Qrow muttered in disgust. "Every damn time you two open your mouths." He sighed and smiled down at his friend. "So, you're here..." he checked his Scroll. "... a day early. Dammit, why can't transport across an entire planet take longer?"

"Qrow! Hey buddy!" Taiyang said with a grin. He looked over at his daughters who were glancing nervously at one another now. Lying didn't come easily to either of them... "You guys have a good, peaceful time with your 'fun uncle?' And Yang, you haven't shown me your arm yet. I bet it looks super cool, right?"

"Yes!" Yang shouted, her voice cracking nervously. She wasn't keen on telling her father that she, who had just received a new prosthesis, and her sister were about to break into a highly secured Atlesian military research facility. "Yeah, um... Actually you _did_ come at a bad time. We were... um... Um..."

"Playing Remnant: The Game and getting ready to go out for food?" Ruby suggested nervously. "Uh, reservations. Very expensive... um... can't add more people in?"

"Oh, I guess we always talk tomorrow. Who was winning?" Tai asked with a smile.

"Me!" Weiss cut in.

That was, of course, how Taiyang knew something was wrong. "Wait... Yang and Ruby told me you couldn't win a single round of that game if they gave you a ninety nine percent handicap from the get go," Taiyang stated, sounding distrustful of his daughters and their friends now. He tensed his legs and jumped up to land behind the group. He turned on his heel the moment he landed and growled angrily at his daughters. "What are you up to?"

"Guys!" Weiss shouted indignantly. "I'm not _that_ bad at it!"

"You're worse," Yang growled under her breath. "It would have been more believable if you said that Sora won, and he's not even here!"

"The question at hand!?" Taiyang snapped, disapprovingly burning a hole in his friend's forehead with his glaring eyes.

Qrow sighed wearily. "You can't say no, because this is too important," Qrow said. He shrugged. "And besides, it's not like Ruby or Yang would listen to you anyways."

"Yup," Yang agreed.

"Sorry," Ruby supplied with a shrug.

"We're breaking into Blue Fairy," Qrow said. He gestured around him. "We've got an inside man, a pair of girls who can bench press trucks, a girl who can do crazy things with glyphs, easily the best fighter in the world except me, the blue haired kid who knows magic, and – saving the best for last here – _ME_."

"That is fair," Taiyang admitted. He looked over at his daughters. "After this, we really need to work on you guys not listening. I'm your father, for God's sake!"

"Pass," Ruby stated, voice bored.

"That sounds boring," Yang said simultaneously with a shrug.

Taiyang sighed in defeat and looked around at everyone present. "So, you're Qrow's girlfriend, right?" he asked Winter after a moment.

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _Eighteen Months before the First Great Keyblade War_

Skye was growing increasingly uncomfortable as he waited for Ozpin to meet with him in the sewers connected to the Tower. The massive gears grinding away all around him did little to calm his growing worries that the ever emboldened Heartless would attack while he waited. They had grown incredibly powerful and rash in the past year, attacking him even in the middle of the day. Worse still, the ones that assaulted him were strong enough that, even if he did have the advantage of day's Light on his side, it was still a dangerous battle, to say nothing of fighting those same monstrosities at night.

"Oz, if you're here can we just get this going? I have a few kids in Egressa that I'm teaching more about how to use his Keyblade!" the man called into the shadows surrounding him. He held his weapon in his right hand, nervously tapping it against the ground and making it glow slightly to illuminate the sewer around him. He tossed the weapon up after a moment, spinning it perpendicular to the ground and catching it by the handle. He repeated the process a few times to try alleviating his anxiety and boredom. Neither were lessened. "Seriously, Oz, I'm leaving if you aren't here in five minutes!"

"Keep it together, Skye, I'm here," the gray haired man said as he stepped out of the shadows. Skye frowned upon seeing his former mentor. Ozpin didn't look too much different than when they had last spoken, although Skye had known him long enough to see that, somehow, the weight in his eyes had managed to get much heavier. Skye had assumed the weight of the World would have been the maximum, but it appeared he was wrong. Ozpin smiled as he approached his student and placed his hands on Skye's shoulders. "So you finally took on students of your own? Is it cliché to say it feels like just yesterday that I saved you from a couple thugs and started mentoring you?"

Skye scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "Completely. They're talking with Ava's students. Calling themselves 'Dandelions,' now..." Skye sighed and let his hands fall back to rest on his waist. "I'll tell you all about my new apprentices later, Oz. First, I want to say I'm sorry I was out of contact for so long. About a year ago the Heartless started tailing me a lot closer. I can't usually think without getting attacked. Until maybe a week before you called this time, I could barely take a walk without running into a dozen Darksides trying to kill me."

Ozpin sighed. Placing his hands on his hips and glancing at the ground, he said, "That would be our Adversary's doing. She and I had a meeting about a year ago, when..." Ozpin crossed his arms and shook his head. "One secret at a time."

"You met them? Why are they – or you – not dead th – Wait, did you say _her?_ " Skye asked, his arms falling slack and his eyes widening to create a dumbfounded expression. "I... Hmph. I wasn't expecting that. Destroying the universe always seemed like more of a..."

"Guy thing? Yes, I was guilty of the same assumption," Ozpin assured his student, smiling as he did. The smile disappeared a moment later and his gaze fell to his feet once again. "But, there are worse things that I learned from our battle." Ozpin walked over to the railing and placed his hands on it to lean against them.

Skye waited patiently for his old friend to continue speaking, letting the pained silence drag on for a couple minutes. Finally: "There was a boy, over there. He was looking for me, for some explanation for why the 'Foretellers' were trying to kill each other when the real enemy was still out there. He was good with his Keyblade, killed a dozen powerful Heartless on his own in the middle of the night to get here. I watched him the entire time, curious if he could find something about the enemy that I overlooked. She was watching him as well." Ozpin looked over and Skye was surprised to see tears silently and slowly streaming from Ozpin's eyes. "She fatally wounded him before I could respond, using a Keyblade more powerful than any I had ever seen. Then when I tried to fight her, my Keyblade would not listen to me. I was powerless, utterly useless."

"That doesn't make any sense, though, Oz. Keyblades only listen to their wielders, no matter what," Skye said, confused once again. "It shouldn't -"

"But it did, because she made it," Ozpin interjected. He turned away and pocketed his hands to hide how much they were shaking.

Skye didn't seem to understand for half a second, but it clicked quickly after that. "Salem? H-how? The Heartless devour anyone that they take, unless... Are they corrupting people now? Is she – Can we save her?"

"No!" Ozpin snapped. He looked over at his student. "You are not thinking this through, Skye. The planning, it has always been there, even before she was kidnapped. She has _always_ been the Adversary."

Skye grew quiet, then placed his hand on Ozpin's shoulder supportively. "I'm... I can't... I'm sorry. I know that you, you know, loved her."

"There is nothing of that woman left behind her eyes," Ozpin brushed it off. He frowned. "Though, I appreciate your empathy. Betrayal such as this is something to which we two have become far too accustomed."

Skye nodded and bit his lip. "Then I guess the only question is, what now? If she can control our Keyblades, we can't stop her. We need to come up with some way around this."

"That brings me to the second thing I must tell you," Ozpin said, a small smile gracing his features. He held his right hand out to his side and took a deep breath. His fist clenched, and a burst of bright light erupted into being extending from his arm.

A new Keyblade appeared within the center of the light. The blade of the weapon was a charcoal gray. The blade alone was about three and a half feet long, smooth and cylindrical. At both ends it tapered outward, with the base of the blade a good measure larger in diameter than the rest of the blade. The teeth of the weapon formed an 'E' with a small rectangle carved from the inside of the base. The guard of the weapon was boxy and just over a foot long, formed from three, rust red rods and gunmetal boxes. The base was the gunmetal, with both sides of the guard formed from the rods. At the top of those rods were small gunmetal boxes connected through the hilt by another rod. The chain was tipped by a stylized Heart symbol that matched the blade in color.

"After learning the identity of our enemy, I thought it best I create a weapon we could use," Ozpin said, a small smile gracing his face.

"H-how!? We can make more, righ -"

"No!" Ozpin growled. He sighed and shook his head; his student could never know the cost of creating these weapons. He could never know what Ozpin had done to create this weapon. "The materials, I could only create the one and we should not waste our time on finding more of it." He gestured at the railing. "Place your Keyblade there."

Skye stared worriedly at his friend for a second, then nodded and placed the black Keyblade on the rails. "With a Keyblade like this one, as strong hers, I found I was able to sever the connection between her Heart and my weapon's," Ozpin explained. He lowed his new Keyblade and placed the teeth flat on top of Skye's weapon. There was a momentary, bright glow that appeared at the tip of the new weapon and soon enveloped the entirety of Skye's blade. Ozpin lowered his new weapon and grabbed the blade with his left hand so he could hold the hilt out to his student. "But this honor should belong to you. You're better with Light than I am."

"Oz..." Skye saw that he couldn't do anything to dissuade Ozpin. It was in the man's eyes, that stubborn glare. "What about you?" he asked as he dismissed his black and white weapon and grabbed the new Keyblade by the handle.

Ozpin let go of the new blade. _Thank you, Ephemer_ , he thought to himself with a smile.

He looked up at his old student. "As I said, I severed the connection between Salem and Sting. That won't be a problem anymore," Ozpin explained. He shook his head. "Train your students, Skye. Devote yourself only to that."

"Why?" he inquired. He hefted his new, more powerful Keyblade to his shoulder.

"We know all that we can, which means we have no reason to continue gathering information. It would be a waste of time when we should be training for battle with Salem and the Traitor." Ozpin put his hands in his pockets. "I hope that everyone will be up to the task."

"Well, my students will be, and I'm not too worried about the others. But you..."

"I will destroy what she is so I can remember who she was," Ozpin assured his former student. He smiled a moment later. "I always wanted to see one of you surpass me. I'm glad it was you."

Skye blushed sheepishly. "Ah, thanks, but I'm not that great," he said. He scratched the back of his head and laughed. He grew serious a moment later. "How much time do you think we have?"

"A year, maybe a bit more."

Skye nodded then swept his new weapon out to his side, summoning a portal of Light behind him with the Keyblade. "See you soon, then, Oz." Skye turned around and began to walk towards the portal, only to stop halfway there and turn back to his teacher. "I've got a name for this one."

"Hm?" Ozpin laughed. "You still didn't name the old one?" He shook his head in disbelief.

"Maybe this one and I just click better, Oz," Skye joked back. Ozpin smiled, that was entirely possible given everything he knew about Ephemer. They would have made good friends. "The Master Keeper. What do you think? Or, Master Defender? The weapon of a true Keyblade Master, right?"

Ozpin laughed loudly at his student, then calmed down and nodded. "That's perfect, Skye. Sounds... permanent." Ozpin sighed and shook his head, saying, "Well, we've wasted enough of your students' time. They are expecting you, right? I'll keep an eye on things here, maybe see if I can find any more allies for our battle. Go, get that student of yours ready so we can save the universe, okay?"

Skye nodded once in agreement, then turned away and walked through the portal a moment later. Ozpin watched as the portal shut, then let his gaze rise to the ceiling. Victory seemed just within reach, which meant it was all the more dangerous it could slip away. He had faith in Skye, though. He had taken a student of his own; the student had become a Master, and had survived loss and pain better than Ozpin ever had. He remained kinder. Brighter. If that was the future of the World, then hope was in no small supply.

He supposed that was what separated Skye from his peers. His soul was less concerned with the grandiose things in life. Skye didn't want power, or fame, or control. No, his decision to go along with Ozpin's plan and become, essentially, a hermit was testament enough to that. He was only concerned with things Salem would have said were small compared to her work. Now that he knew the truth, Oz believed a better description would be good, or honest, the things that Salem had forgotten in her insanity. The question, however, was whether that strength would be enough to bind his other students together despite their growing emnity? Well, all he could do was put his hope in that smaller, more honest soul.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Ugh! I'm so _bored_!" Mercury whined as he hung upside down on a metal bar, his head dangling next to Emerald's. She rolled her eyes behind her binoculars and kept her gaze locked on the front door of the shop within which was hidden the entrance to Blue Fairy. "Em, hey, Em! Em! Em! Em! Em! Em! Are they in there yet? Em! Em!"

"God dammit, no, you idiot!" she finally snapped, turning towards him and nearly smacking her forehead into his. He laughed and swung back and forth on his perch while his partner stumbled back a step and growled at him. "You nearly knocked me off of the building, moron."

"I would've caught you," Mercury retorted indignantly, stopping his swinging as he did. He continued swinging a moment later and sighed. "So, how are you doing?"

"I've been watching a storefront for an hour while you act like an idiot right next to me," Emerald responded dryly as she continued her surveillance. "So how do you think I'm doing, Merc?"

"Great. It's just that much fun being around me."

Emerald sighed in pain and tried to ignore her partner. "Em. Em! Em!" Mercury sighed and flipped to his feet beside her. He put his hands in his pockets and waited for the woman to say anything to him, notice him in the slightest. She did not. "Fine, I'm going to go get something."

"Yeah, sure," Emerald muttered dismissively. She froze a few moment later. "Wait, did you say you were going to go somewhere? Mercury? Merc?" Emerald took her eyes out from behind her binoculars and looked around in disbelief; Mercury had really run off somewhere. She sighed in defeat and placed her eyes back behind the lenses to continue her surveillance.

She saw suspicious movement in the corner of her vision and swept her head towards it, only to see the shit eating, liar's grin that Mercury had whenever he was being 'nice.' The silver haired man was standing in front of a cart vendor, a few rich customers in line before him and behind him. She knew she should return to watching the entrance to Blue Fairy, but found she was just far too interested in whatever the hell her partner was doing.

Mercury continued to just stand in line, acting like a completely normal member of society waiting to buy a useless product from a useless... wait, was that a flower vendor? She zoomed in and frowned as Mercury got to the front of the line and began to small talk with the salesman. "The hell?" she wondered aloud as he paid the vendor and turned away. She lost him in the crowds a half second later, then immediately looked around worriedly for him. How could she have lost someone with such a big head!?

"What you looking for?"

Emerald flinched and spun on her heel to glare at Mercury, who was standing with a single emerald orchid in his right hand, his left hidden behind him. She locked her eyes on the flower, then looked back up at her partner. "Oh, this?" Mercury asked. He shrugged and threw it to the side. "I got you a gift." He pulled his hand out from behind him to reveal a wallet filled to the brim with Lien.

In spite of herself, Emerald found herself smiling. "Idiot," she said, though she took the wallet and pocketed it with a smile. "We're lucky Little Red and her stupid friends weren't here to see you and ruin everything yet."

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me," Mercury said as he leaned against the wall beside her. He gestured down at the street with his thumb and shrugged. "They're on their way in from the north."

Emerald growled in annoyance and looked towards where Mercury had said the group was approaching. "You couldn't have opened with that!?" Emerald snapped. And he was correct, there was Red's entire group. Her, the bimbo, the heiress, heiress the prequel, Red's uncle... and a blonde guy they'd never seen before. Eh, that he showed up probably wouldn't be too important. It wasn't as if one more person would help them hold off all the guards in Blue Fairy long enough to do... whatever it was they were doing, then also break out of the highly defended research facility. Emerald sighed contentedly. "Okay, okay, thank you."

"No problem. Maybe you would have seen them if you could pay attention for longer than five seconds," Mercury mocked.

"I really hate you," Emerald muttered as she lowered her binoculars to her belt and put them away. "Like a lot."

"Liar. You know you love me," Mercury retorted. He waved a hand covered in an aura of Darkness and summoned up a Corridor for the two of them to enter Blue Fairy. "You gonna tel Cindy and the others we're ready?"

"Big man when she's not around, hm?" Emerald snarked at him while sending the message.

"Just jump into vortex of Darkness so we can break into the evil lab and find the magic witch lady for our scary magic witch lady," Mercury grunted just before walking through it himself.

"Well, when you say It like that..." Emerald muttered as she passed through the Corridor herself, already summoning a bubble of illusion around them. She appeared a moment later beside Mercury in one of the upper level research rooms.

"You ever find it weird that we can just appear anywhere? Even if we've never been there before?" Mercury asked after a moment. He looked around. "I mean, what the hell is even in here? We've never even seen this room before! What do you think is in here?"

Emerald frowned. "Um... Huh. How do we do that?" she asked when she also realized it made no sense. She shrugged it off and decided to look around with Mercury as they had a few moments before their distractions made their own way into the building above. The walls of this room were lined with blue tubes. Mercury and Emerald looked at one another for a second, then went over to look into two that were close together.

"'Project BF-197, code named Cumulonimbus,'" Mercury read off of the Scroll connecting the tubes. "'Super soldiers infused with Dust that... share an Aura?' Jeez, Atlas is a terrifying place." They took another step forward and looked in on the science experiment freaks.

One was a man with long, silvery white hair and an arrogant, thin face. He had huge, arching bangs that outlined his face and ran along his He was wearing a black outfit with the chest cut out, save for crossing black straps. He was taller and slightly thinner than his counterpart. This second guy had blonde hair so spiky it made Sora's look tame or, dare Mercury say it, _normal_. The science freak was wearing black-blue pants and a matching sleeveless shirt. A spiky pauldron was on his left shoulder and a similarly designed band around his same wrist. Both hands were bound in black-brown gloves. "'Subjects cryogenically frozen until testing begins.' Hm," Emerald read at the bottom of the Scroll-plaque. "Oh yeah, Atlas is a weird damn place."

Mercury looked down at his Scroll, then back up at Emerald with a wicked grin. "Okay, we've wasted enough time. Let's run around and see what kinds of trouble we can stir up!"

"Well, we do look like Red and her friends, and they are experts at it," Emerald pointed out with a smirk. "I think we can beat them in that department, right?"

"Hm..." Merc grunted, already standing beside the door. He raised his right leg and grinned at the metal wall. "How couldn't we?" Then he lashed out and the door exploded into the hallway. He walked out and waved at the guards standing there. "Sup, morons?"

"Freeze," one of them finally managed, leveling her rifle on the pair now standing there.

"Real quick, who do we look like?" Mercury leaned over and whispered.

"You're bimbo, I'm Red."

"You're cruel."

"Then you make the illusion," she hissed back.

"You're too slow to be Red."

"And you're too tall. Shut up," Emerald growled. She gestured at the soldiers. "Which one?"

"Ladies first," Mercury responded.

Emerald rolled her eyes, but jumped forward nonetheless. Her chains wrapped around the throat of one of the guards so she could use them to throw him down the hallway. She turned before Mercury could react and sliced through the Achilles tendon of the other guard. She fell face first to the ground where Emerald slammed a foot into her temple, just light enough to make sure that the guard wasn't knocked unconscious. "That was greedy!" Mercury whined angrily. "I wanted to have fun too."

"It doesn't matter," Emerald pointed out as she turned back to him, "let's just get to the main hallway and let the others in." She grabbed Mercury by the arm and the two of them sprinted off to leave the woman to get the base on high alert looking for Ruby and her sister. The two of them rounded a corner, with Emerald changing the illusion around them so they were no longer visible, then they ran through the nearest door.

"Well, that was super easy," Emerald remarked when it became clear their job was finished, the bright red lights and screams of alarm klaxons sounding around them. With her abilities, Emerald made the noise of the sirens disappear.

"Yeah," Mercury agreed. He frowned and shook his head. He took on the vocie of a child and whined at Emerald: "I'm bored."

"Huh... me too," Emerald said after glaring angrily at his use of such an annoying voice, then looked at the ground to come up with a way to alleviate their boredom. Mercury got really annoying if left to his own devices. Finally, she suggested, "Wanna screw around with some of this highly sensitive and dangerous military equipment?"

Mercury glared dryly at her for a moment before grinning and saying, "God, I was hoping you'd ask that!"

"What's a 'Magic Lamp?'" Emerald wondered as she neared the closest project in the room.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Fifteen minutes earlier, Ruby and the rest of her crew were making their way towards the Blue Fairy store as inconspicuously as possible. It wasn't all that easy with such a large group of people all holding weapons, especially when more than half of them looked distinctly non-military, and in Atlas almost anyone who had a weapon was in the military. Sure, there were always one or two Huntsmen who were passing through on their way to and from missions, but to see more than six of those people in the same place at the same time was odd to say the least. They were getting odd looks from almost everybody they passed, including the man across the street selling flowers from a cart.

Ruby knew that what was coming was going to be difficult, not because she was expecting trouble when fighting against the swarm of guardsmen and robotic adversaries that no doubt were hidden in the ant hill style maze of tunnels that ran for miles beneath her feet, but because she was worried about how those battles could affect the people going about their lives above. If Ruby or any of the others got in a fight with someone of substance, it's entirely possible that it could have terrible repercussions on the civilians. The world could shake beneath them, and it was possible they may even believe they were under attack by the same people who destroyed Beacon, this time perhaps aiming to ignite the large deposits of Volcanic Dust that existed underneath the continent.

That was to say nothing of the break in itself. Doctor Polendina had confirmed Qrow's and Winter's fears that the facility had indeed increased their security since a certain red cloaked girl had appeared and disappeared just as fast, leaving behind only a few singed rose petals. The main hallway now had multiple patrols of a dozen droids each, and the door inside the shop was now being guarded by undercover soldiers. Specialists, specifically. Again, a problem given the fact there were so many people outside in this civilian area. Getting in a fight would just cause mass panic and, eventually, result in Grimm swarming the city. In large enough numbers, Polendina was sure that even his shields would be overwhelmed by the monsters.

Thankfully, Doctor Polendina had supplied a way around that problem. Ever since the Beacon incident, the entire world had been wary of Atlas. Given the fact that Atlesian droids had been attacking civilians, that was more than understandable. The tension was even great enough that the populace of Atlas itself was growing more discontent, which was one reason that the Kingdom – Schnee Corp specifically – had contributed majorly to the Haven Tournament and in clean up for Vale's capital. Still, protests and demonstrations had become common place in the northern kingdom. Doctor Polendina had come up with the idea to use old footage and communications from a more... vehement demonstration and a few well placed actors to get the undercover guys to exit and give Ruby's group a way in.

Speaking of which, a pair of rather worried looking people carrying weapons ran out of the shop, being warned about a 'violent riot going on near Schnee Corp's main offices. Seeing as the Blue Fairy group was on the man's payroll, they were sent immediately to deal with it. "That worked way better than I thought it would," Qrow muttered as the duo passed them. He slipped through the door immediately after Ruby and followed her to the door in the back. "Locked. Well, I guess we only have one option." He turned to Ruby. "Three feet of reinforced steel versus one Keyblade. Easy bet to make."

Ruby nodded, uncharacteristically solemn during this rescue mission, and summoned the red weapon to her hand. It glowed for a moment as she raised its tip towards the doorway, and a bright white flash covered the entire outline of the door itself. The air _hummed_ for a moment before the door silently and smoothly slid open of its own accord. "Those things are _really_ useful," Weiss remarked as Ruby dismissed her Keyblade.

"Yep," Ruby responded simply before jogging ahead of the group, physically shaking from the mere act of restraining her intense speed. She was going to destroy a doomsday device, save an entire Kingdom, put a major dent in Salem's evil plans, and bring back a friend she thought she had lost more than a year earlier! Waiting for her friends was necessary to make sure she didn't get overwhelmed by the numbers of the Atlesian droids, but that didn't make it any easier to stomach.

About halfway down the stairway, Ruby and the others were surprised to hear that they were not as stealthy about sneaking in as they had hoped. Klaxons were echoing from below, red light shining from the entry to the research facility itself. "Typical," Weiss groaned when she saw for herself. She shook her head at Ruby. "Did you become _more_ of a trouble magnet lately?"

"Blame her boyfriend," Neptune joked. "He's worse than her."

"How is he not dead?" Weiss asked, dumbfounded. She shook her head and thought it through, only growing more horrified. "He must be attacked by monsters all the time!"

"Would you believe me if I said that, even with this, it's been a calm month?" Ruby asked while turning around. She saw the resolve on the faces of her friends and family. Ruby grinned widely and held her fist up in front of her. "Let's do this!" Then she turned on her heel and sprinted right into the thick of things.

There was a series of loud clicks and hums as soon as she and the others passed through the door and into Blue Fairy's first internal intersection, every hallway filled to the brim with Atlesian battle droids and soldiers all aiming their weapons at the small group of intruders. From within one of those masses of people and robots came a loud scream of rage. "FIRE!" Ruby yelped in surprise as bright blue light began to glow in the barrels of every Dust laser. Being as quick as she was, however, she quickly summoned up a Reflega wall that covered her and everyone behind her. The hexagons of light exploded into being just in time, expanding to full size just as the blasters fired and the deadly bolts rocketed towards them.

The incoming shots ricocheted from her wall and the blue beams flew back towards their origins, each of the bright bolts screaming as they sizzled through the steel of the robots that stood up suddenly to shield their human masters from danger. A few of the metal soldiers groaned and fell to the ground, the bolts having burned through important internal wiring, but many more remained standing as the bolts glanced off of the more heavily armored regions of their forms.

Ruby grumbled in annoyance as the droids and humans took a couple steps back, obviously trying to come up with a way to overcome this unbreakable mirror. "This is gonna take forever!" Ruby grumbled. Sje continued to hold the wall up, both hands stretched out in front of her. If she let it drop, they were dead. If she didn't drop it, they were stuck.

"No, it won't." A hand rested suddenly on her shoulder, and Ruby turned around to see the kind smile of her father looking down at her. "Qrow, his girlfriend –" Qrow and Winter visibly cringed at that one. "- and I will hold them off until you four can find your friend and DISC."

"That is the course of action that makes the most sense," Winter agreed calmly. She drew her sword and popped it apart into its dual form. "The three of us together should be able to keep them busy for some time."

Qrow drew his scythe in sword mode. "Your call, Kiddo."

Ruby glanced at the ground in front of her, then nodded. "Weiss, Yang. Freezerburn!" Then she dropped the shield. Ice erupted across the ground as Weiss used magic to coat the ground in a thin layer. Even as this was happening, Yang flipped backwards, a huge blaze surrounding her robotic fist. She lashed out with her fist and the fire slammed into the center of the intersection. The ground exploded from the force of the blast, and the ice melted then almost immediately boiled away into a thick cloud of steam.

"Hold your fire! You might hit our allies!" the same soldier shouted as the weapons hummed to life again. The soldiers, begrudgingly, did as commanded when they realized he was correct.

Ruby used this opening and looked over at her partner. "Weiss, Slingshot!" The white haired girl nodded and a huge glyph appeared behind the four younger warriors for a moment. Ruby looked back at the veteran Huntsmen, each now prepared for a massive battle in the enclosed space. "Kick their butts," Ruby demanded of her father and uncle before she and the others were suddenly flying over the heads of the soldiers and battle droids in front of them.

"I've got the hundred in the center," Qrow called before jumping through the steam at his targets.

"Right," Winter supplied simply, her hair melting into the steam until she disappeared completely and stalked towards the right hallway.

"Left. I guess," Tai grumbled. The blonde let loose a groaning sigh, then turned in that direction. He raised his fists in front of him and narrowed his eyes. "YAAAAARGH!" He charged forward screaming bloody murder.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"That weird blue thing _really_ thinks it knows you," Mercury pointed out, holding the door open for Emerald. She exited the room and Mercury slammed the door shut despite the 'Genie of the Lamp's' protests.

"Obviously it didn't, Moron. It kept calling me 'Al,'" Emerald huffed.

"Oh, come on," Mercury said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "We both know you look nothing like a man." He stopped after a moment. "But to be fair to the weird blue thing..." He fell silent when a palm slapped across his face. He stared in surprise at the red eyed woman's furious face before letting loose a grin. "I was going to say that it did claim to have been in there for a thousand years! Ouch!"

"That _would_ make anyone grow crazy," Emerald admitted. She was blushing now, a little embarrassed she had so needlessly hurt Mercury. Which was weird, because she usually loved doing that.

"Right? I mean look at Salem! If you think about how she spent a thousand years alone in a demonic wasteland, a lot of things suddenly make so much more sense," Mercury pointed out. He rubbed his cheek absently and continued walking with his partner. "Now, where to explore next!?"

"We're supposed to be looking for wherever the Maiden is being held," Emerald pointed out half heartedly.

"And?" Mercury asked, already opening the next door. He immediately shut it and shook his head. "Makeup for dogs."

Emerald rolled her eyes and opened the door. "Broom closet," she growled. She shoved the laughing Mercury away and walked past him.

"Anyways, the best way to find ol' Ledenica is to explore. Either we'll find a control room that'll tell us where everything is, or we'll find her," Mercury pointed out, jogging up beside Emerald. He laced his fingers at the base of his skull and slowed down until he was moving in pace with Emerald. "Easy as tricking the Bimbo."

"Fine," Emerald muttered when she couldn't find any mistake in his logic, which was _also_ surprising to her. She looked over at him and scoffed. "Stop that, you look like Red's little boyfriend."

Mercury immediately threw his hands down and grimaced. "Ugh," he groaned. A disgusted shiver ran across his features. "Tell me _before_ I do something like that next time!"

Emerald grinned evilly and waved a Darkness covered hand. "There, now it's perfect."

Mercury looked down and yelped in rage. He ran his hands through his hair and nearly roared. "You.. You monster!" he shouted in Sora's voice, his now incredibly spiky brown hair bouncing wildly while he jabbed his finger disapprovingly at his partner. Emerald laughed for a while and they continued walking for some time before she finally stopped laughing and let the illusion drop. "I hate you."

"You know you love me," Emerald supplied mockingly before opening the next door. She grunted in surprise. "What do you know?" She opened it all the way and drew her weapons, firing off bullets into the heads of the people within. It took only a few seconds, then she holstered them again and held the door open for her partner to enter behind her. "The control room."

"And who was right?" Mercury asked as he gestured with both arms at the large room filled with Scrolls and, now, corpses. The assassin grinned victoriously for a few seconds, then scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Of course, I was hoping it would take longer to find than it did..."

"Of course you were," Emerald laughed. She moved to the closest Scroll desk and shoved the corpse of its former user to the ground so she could use it. She swiped through a few menus. "Oh God, the directory is by project name? It'll take forever to find it."

Mercury leaned over her shoulder and stared intently at the screen for a minute. "There's a keyword search bar." He gestured at the upper right corner of the screen and glanced dryly at Emerald. "You want to impress Cinder so much the pressure's getting to you?"

"Ha ha," Emerald growled. She clicked on the search bar. "Um... 'Maiden?'" She hit enter and, to her surprise, only one project showed up on the list.

"Project Solo, BF-0710. One of two projects found on the 17th sub-floor of the facility, Level 07. Early stages research involving Subject Win-Maiden, Agent Ledenica." Mercury grunted as he read through it and looked over at Emerald with pursed lips. "So... you gonna make the call?"

"Do I have to do everything?" she groaned in retort, though she already had her Scroll in hand.

"Sure do, _Al_."

"I. Hate. You."

"You know you love me," Mercury retorted, his usual smirk back on his face.


	32. Pinocchios

**AN:**

 **Yo! I told you guys this one would be faster. I was more excited about this chapter than the last, for one, and I had an incredibly light week, for another.**

 **If you liked the FF cameo last chapter, I hope the lower level cameo at the end of this one will delight as well. It's the FFII PSP version, visually, in case anyone wants specifics.**

 **To Kingofclubs8129: Thanks! Emerald's one of the few major characters whose main inspiration hasn't been explicitly named as of yet, but most of the references to her are Aladdin-y, especially her whole thief bit and her name. "Diamond in the Rough," and all that.  
Sadly, I don't explicitly plan on using Cloud or Sephiroth in this story, nor is Genie going to factor in majorly. It was mainly just a fun cameo, but if I go along with the spin off eventually those characters might show up in the story as 'Companion' characters like Beast or Jack Skellington.  
I also got a weird vibe from Cinder in the episodes. Maybe not a Double Agent vibe, but now that she can barely walk or talk she seems more human. Maybe she's going to do something semi-redemptive eventually!**

 **To HelpSomeone: If I do decide to do the spin off story, it'll be started as a different fic on this site and it'll be about exploring the reborn Worlds outside of Remnant. I have a basic plan, but nothing as specific as I had before starting this. If/When I manage to come up with a concrete outline in my head I'll start, but it won't be until I finish at least one of my other ongoing stories that I can dig into it.**

 **To gamelover41592: Thanks. I didn't really like last chapter as much as the others, but I loved the cameos. If I do the spin off, Genie'll show up in the company of a certain Thief and Assassin from time to time.**

 **To CraZramblinGhost: Thanks for catching that. I could've sworn I put 3.5 feet for just the blade, but I must've blanked. Derp. I fixed it as soon as you pointed it out. I'm glad I'm punny, but can you tell me which characters specifically I am making you love?  
As for the Genie cameo, yeah it would be pretty sad. He's been waiting for his friends for over a thousand years, and doesn't quite understand they're gone yet. The way I see it, the end of the World sent him into a kind of 'stasis' until Atlas found him.  
Anime _does_ have a little too much enthusiasm for abusive parents. It's good for quick, effective pathos, I'll give them that, but it's almost becoming a cliché at this point that one character have a dad who isn't 'evil,' just a huge a-hole. Super fun.  
Morrigan is pretty invested in getting rid of Raven's 'Weakness' so far, but the fact she is so invested means she still feels something for Yang and Tai. She's pretty much the parts of Raven that thought staying with Tai and Yang would make her too domestic and weak so she ran, then taken to the extreme, but there's still some of Raven's better parts in there, too.**

 **To Wlyman2009: As soon as Chapter 35 hits, no more short end of the stick. Sora gets his Keyblade, Vale is (I mean, obviously, right?) saved, and there's a breather before the final battle begins.**

 **To Guest: Yeah, it wasn't my favorite chapter either. I wanted to catch up with Emerald and Mercury for a moment before next chapter. I hope the action in this one can more than make up for it!**

 **To warrior of six blades: Yep, everyone's going to have to deal with a little more than they expected now that Cinder and the others are down there, too. I hope the resultant fights are entertaining!  
I also get your Sephiroth pity. It would be hard not to go insane when you were basically built from scratch to be... a little insane. In this story, Ruby and the others won't be rescuing any of the Blue Fairy experiments; Cloud, Sephiroth, and Genie are more just cameos in this story who'll show up more if I do the spin-off, as a combination of their KH and original canon editions.  
I'm glad that the Master Keeper's origin was emotional. I feel like a weapon that strong should have a deep cost to making it, especially with 'I've made more mistakes than anyone' Ozpin.**

 _ **Chapter 32: Pinocchios**_

Ruby and the others ran down the hallway, the noise of the battle behind them getting no quieter with the distance they put between it and them. Despite wanting to see how much butt her dad and uncle were kicking together, she was too concerned with what was ahead of her. When she'd last been in the research facility, she had spent the entire time zipping around at full speed and had been at the bottom floor in just a few minutes. Now, however, she realized just how large the facility was. The path to the only staircase leading down to Penny and, as Doctor Polendina had told them, the DISC was quite a distance away. She knew they should stay together in case they ran into trouble, but it still took all Ruby had to not turn into a torpedo of crimson petals and reach the finish line by herself.

"Hurry up!" she whined at her friends when she had to slow herself down for the umpteenth time in the past ten seconds, her voice rising above the cacophony of their boots slamming into the metal ground. In the enclosed space of the Blue Fairy hallway, they almost sounded like the crashing rapids of a waterfall, and they moved with more purpose in every echoing step than an entire army. To be fair, when the fate of the entire universe was possibly placed on the shoulders of four Huntsmen trainees, they would tend to be pretty determined.

"We're going as fast as we can!" Weiss snapped in response, her voice slightly more haggard than her partner's. Ruby's stamina had been unbelievable before she got her Keyblade. Now she could run for days without feeling it. Weiss and the others, however, were still the same people as before.

"Why not just glyph us to the end of the hallway?" Yang asked simply, also starting to show signs of fatigue. _Damn, little sis, when did you get so strong?_

"You know why," Weiss growled.

"No. I don't," Yang said. She grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of her head while she continued to keep pace. "I wasn't listening!"

"Ugh!" Weiss growled.

"We need to keep up our strength in case we run into any surprises down here. Even Doctor Polendina didn't know everything that's down here," Ruby explained before Weiss had a chance to berate the blonde.

"And of course, someone obviously tipped them off," Neptune pointed out tiredly.

Ruby frowned but didn't say anything. Someone did tip off Blue Fairy that they were going to be there, but she had no idea who it could have been. Everyone in their group had a vested interest in stopping DISC and – potentially – closing the research group down forever. Qrow, Taiyang, Ruby, and Yang wanted to save their home and friends from a massive, deadly explosion, Weiss and Winter didn't want that same act to stain either Atlas or their names forever, Neptune wanted to help Weiss and make sure Sun didn't die, and Doctor Polendina wanted to save his daughter. Other than all of them, however, Ruby couldn't think of anyone who had known about their coming plan to break in.

"Come to think of it, they sounded like they thought they'd been trying to stop Ruby from 'letting other people in,'" Weiss thought aloud. She turned her head towards her partner. "Like they thought you were already in here."

"Emerald!" Ruby shouted when she connected the dots. She looked over her shoulder at the others. "Guys, we need to be careful. Cinder and her goons are –"

"Here." Ruby turned just in time to slide beneath a slash from a bright red blade running right at her head. She slid past the man in the black suit that had just attacked her and used her hands to spring to her feet. As she flipped through the air, she summoned her Keyblade and landed lightly with the weapon pointed at her attacker. On the other side of him, Yang and the others readied for a fight against this newcomer.

"You!" Yang shouted angrily when she recognized him.

"Me," Adam Taurus responded, turning away from Ruby and aiming his blade directly at the blonde. His right arm flared up for a moment, shadow appearing to come out of the surface like sparks from a flame. "Human."

"Asshole," Yang growled. She stood up straight and pointed at herself with her thumb. "I've got this bad guy, okay? You guys go save Penny and Vale!"

"But Yang, we should -" Ruby began.

"No," Yang interjected quietly, her hair already starting to float upward and her eyes slowly becoming a brilliant crimson. "He's all mine, got it?"

Ruby sighed before finally assenting. "Weiss, Neptune, come on!"

Weiss nodded and used a glyph to bounce the two of them over the terrorist in the center of the hallway. He didn't even make a move to attack them, instead keeping his masked gaze and blood red blade locked on the burning bombshell. His stance was filled with pure, unadulterated murderous intent as he stared her down. "Be careful, Yang!" Ruby shouted.

"But kick his butt!" Weiss demanded.

"You've got this!" Neptune agreed. Then, with one final look at Yang, the three turned and began to run off without her.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you," Adam said after a moment of staring Yang down.

"Funny, little man," Yang snarled as she raised her burning fists into a fighting stance, "I was about to say the same thing." She roared and sprinted towards her enemy with fist leveled at her waist.

The Faunus swept his sword to the side, coating it in inky Darkness and raising it above his head as well. He sprinted towards Yang and prepared to enter a battle for vengeance. "I will destroy you, human!" he screamed before slashing down at her. She brought her fist up at the same time, and the two energies exploded violently between them. Neither was thrown back by the release of energy, however, with the force seemingly passing them by. In reality, their similar Semblances allowed the two of them to absorb the incredible impact that was translated into their bodies. The rest of the force expanded from the connection point, and the walls of the hallway around them bent outward in a sphere. Yang followed this blow up with one from her left hand, roaring again as her opponent brought his blade up to intercept it. The blows kept raining down from either combatant, fist and blade crashing into one another as they fought to land even a single, now impossibly powerful blow against their opponent.

"You need a friend to make this a fun fight?" Yang mocked as she sidestepped his next attack, letting the blade crash into the ground and waste all of the stored energy from her attacks. She grinned and unleashed her heaviest and fastest blow at Adam's head. He snarled and his arm writhed for a moment. The blade shot upwards suddenly, impossibly, and her attack was blocked.

"I don't need her help, girl," Adam growled, his claw of Darkness writhing around his weapon as he locked gazes with Yang. "Not to kill an animal like you."

"'Her?'" Yang asked. She lashed out with her leg before even the shadowy hand could react and kicked Adam a dozen feet away from her. He landed lightly on his feet and aimed his blade directly at Yang again. The girl's eyes widened a little in surprise, their red glow brightening before she narrowed them and grinned. "Oh, good. If Morrigan's close, I can kill two bad guys with one explosion."

"Hmph," the Faunus terrorist grunted. He dashed at her again and slashed upward, a blow that Yang jumped backwards to escape while launching twin Firagas at her opponent's face. He batted it away with his Darkness covered blade, then lashed out with the sword. Yang raised her fists and prepared to attack, knowing she was outside of his reach. She barely had time to react when the arm made of Darkness suddenly stretched towards her, placing her well within the blade's reach. She brought around a left hook and the sword was thrown from its path, eventually impaling the wall.

"Okay. That was new," Yang muttered, surprise still evident in her voice.

"And that's not all," Adam growled, retracting his arm. He twirled the blade out to his side and raised his left hand, bathed in Darkness, slowly. Multiple portals of Darkness appeared around Yang, summoning shadowy minotaurs from the aether.

Yang grimaced as the Heartless grunted like bulls and aimed their horns at her. "Um... what happened to 'You don't need help?'"

"I'm willing to make an exception," he retorted. "Kill her." The Heartless roared angrily and charged Yang.

"Oh, good. A real fight," she laughed before bathing her fists in fire again and readying for battle against the monsters and their commander.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby, Weiss, and Neptune finally reached the end of the hallway and found themselves outside of the stairway that would lead down to Penny and the DISC. Ruby took a moment to smile at how close they were getting to their goal before summoning her Keyblade to her hand and shattering the door in front of them. She stepped through the doorway and looked over the railing at the ground seventeen stories below. "'Choose your own landing strategy, first person you see is your partner!'" she joked as she looked over her shoulder at Weiss. She gestured a thumbs up at Weiss, who smiled at the joke, then vaulted over the railing and tumbled in free fall towards the floor.

She landed silently, and was surprised when she heard the sounds of battle already going on from within the room that Penny defended. Weiss and Neptune landed themselves a moment later. "What's going on in there?" Neptune wondered for all of them.

"I have a guess," Ruby said angrily. She turned around to talk to the others and nodded. "You guys go find DISC and try to shut it down. I'll hold off Penny and Cinder so you have an opening to get through."

"We're not going to abandon you, Ruby," Weiss snapped, the idea of running from two fights insulting to her heiress pride.

"What, do you think I can't do it myself?" Ruby asked, insulted.

"Cause she can," Neptune agreed. Weiss looked angrily over at him for not agreeing with her. "Hey, you haven't seen her do half the things I've seen, Snow Angel. Cinder and a brainwashed robot are pretty much nothing, and that was before she had a Keyblade."

"Fine," Weiss growled, noting that she was outvoted. "Just be careful."

"When aren't -"

"Never! You're never careful!" Weiss hissed.

"Well... that wouldn't be fun," Ruby admitted with a shrug. She turned to the door again and kicked it open to see that her guess had, indeed, been correct.

Cinder jumped out of the incoming path of a large, blue laser Penny had fired, the blast burrowing through the ground where she had been standing a moment before. She summoned a ball of red and black flames to her hand and tossed it at the robotic defender, who used her string-blades to pull herself out of the way. The fire exploded uselessly against the wall and the blades extending from Penny's back flew toward Cinder of their own accord before the woman had even landed. The Maiden growled and raised her blade to deflect the attack, as she had no other choice, and the weapon was entangled in the strings. Cinder's weapon was torn from her hand a moment later, until she disintegrated it and remade it in her hand.

Cinder looked over and caught sight of Ruby. "Ah, good. A distraction," she said, smirking evilly. She opened up a portal of Darkness beneath Ruby's feet and opened another above Penny. Ruby yelped as she fell through the Darkness and landed on top of the android, causing the two of them to land in a heap on the ground. "Die, would you?" Cinder ran past the two recovering combatants and into the door 0710. Weiss and Neptune instinctively made to follow her, stop her.

"No! DISC first," Ruby shouted. She jumped off of Penny so she landed between the android and her friends, using Crescent Rose to slap away Penny's incoming attacks. The Keyblade _ding_ ed as it collided with the metal and she reset for the battle. She slapped the next attacks into the ground and began to move towards 0705, Weiss and Neptune following in her shadow so she could give them an open path into the lab. Ruby grinned and, with a flick of her Keyblade, shot a Magnet spell at the opposite wall. Penny tried to attack Ruby and the others for a moment, but looked over her shoulder in confusion. What looked to be sheer, unadulterated panic – more human than anything else the droid had ever managed – ran through the android's body when the force began to act on her. Ruby looked over her shoulder to make sure Weiss and Neptune had gotten through the door, then quickly deactivated her spell.

"Penny, are you -" Ruby gasped and flipped sideways over the next incoming attack, readying for another blow. "I was going to ask if you're okay, but I suppose that's my answer."

"Target identified: 'Ruby!'" Penny shouted in the silver eyed girl's voice. The droid also readied for battle and a dozen blades soon found themselves angled directly at Ruby.

"We're friends. You can just shout, 'Sal-u-tations!,'" Ruby castigated Penny. She took a deep breath; she couldn't just attack her friend for danger of hurting or – even worse – accidentally killing her. That Magnet spell had seemed to awaken part of Penny, too, but it wasn't the part that Ruby wanted to see again. That last fight with Pyrrha must have left a heavy mark on Penny's Heart, enough that it was capable of showing even with her memories and personality locked away. Finally, she made her decision. "Thunder!"

Yellow lightning rained down from the ceiling, the energy crashing into the web of metal strings that extended from Penny's back. The android yelped in pain when the energy coursed through her entire body, stunning her and causing her entire body to seize up. Ruby took this opportunity to rush forward, slicing through the strings that floated around Penny's body. The green and copper blades that hung from them clattered against the floor, one after another, until a third of them no longer were under the android's control.

It was at this time that Penny had recovered from the bolts of lightning, however, and retracted the rest of her blades to prevent a similar attack from so easily hitting her. She dashed past Ruby and lifted a pair of the blades from the ground before shifting them into blaster mode and firing at the Keyblade Wielder before her. Ruby used her Keyblade to slap the bolts of energy away, then used her Semblance to launch herself like a rocket at Penny. The mind controlled android shifted her weapons back into blades, and another pair appeared from her back once more. Those lashed forward and collided with the spinning Ruby, entangling her in the strings that held them and causing the young woman to tumble like a doll across the ground. The young woman groaned and looked up at Penny who held both blades above her to attack Ruby. As the blades came down at her, Ruby snapped another spell out. "Reflect!" A bubble of energy rapidly expanded from her body, forcing the strings that had entrapped her apart and deflecting the blow that rained down at her.

Ruby jumped to her feet before the shield dropped, then, before Penny could pull her weapons back, slashed through the two strings that had trapped her. Two more of Penny's blades were rendered useless. "Six more to go," Ruby said before shooting a grin at the emotionless Penny.

"Combat ready," Penny stated, a fraction of her usual tone returning for a moment.

"Yeah you are!" Ruby agreed. She launched a distracting Blizzaga at the ground. A burst of icy fog erupted between her and Penny, which Ruby then used as a way to dash around in a torpedo of roses to Penny's right side, sweeping her Keyblade around her at Penny's shoulder. As soon as she depleted Penny's Aura, the android would be too tired to resist. That would give Ruby all the time she needed to figure this out.

Fortunately for her, Penny did not react in time to stop the attack. The Keyblade slammed into Penny's shoulder and sent her flying into the cylindrical wall of the room within which they fought. Ruby grinned, until movement to her left caught her eye. She whined as the sword that Penny had managed to get out crashed into her arm and sliced a diagonal hole in her sleeve. She was sent tumbling from the shift in momentum, only stopping when she managed to dig her blade into the ground. She slid to a stop at the lip of the crater that Penny had blasted into the ground before Ruby's arrival. Ruby pulled her blade from the ground and she lifted it defensively. She was giving Penny too many openings, treating her like a friend in this fight. She slashed her weapon out to the side, the fire in her Heart bathing her weapon in a blade of Light. "Sora said it isn't even a good idea if Keyblade Masters do this, but we're gonna try it out anyways!" she shouted, her face growing into a wide grin. "I'm waking you up one way or another... Friend!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _The Eve of the First Great Keyblade War_

Skye stood on the cliff that overlooked Daybreak Town, listening to the sounds of the people in the city below. The day was bright, happy, shining with the Light of Kingdom Hearts. Everyone seemed so happy and calm, completely unaware of what was coming. He bent down and picked one of the flowers at his feet so he could watch its petals rustle in the wind. "Ava," Skye said after a moment in Oz's voice. Despite everything, he couldn't help but smile that she was there. He looked over at her, and crossed his arms. "What do you -"

"Luxu."

The man in the black cloak fell silent, the act confirming what she had guessed. The woman, wearing a light pink hood and a fox mask, sighed and shook her head in disappointment. "What's written on the lost page?" she asked. Skye didn't respond and let his gaze fall to the ground as he considered leaving. It had been so long since they had seen one another, and even longer since he had been himself around her. "Luxu... have you been behind all of this? A... Are you the traitor?"

Skye took a half step back. "How could you think that!?" he snapped, summoning his black and white Keyblade to his hand a moment later. He glared at her from beneath his cloak, then glanced away from her with his eyes. "I'd never do that to you... Never, Ila."

Ava shook her head and continued to glare angrily at him. "Ava," she replied.

Skye sighed and fought off the urge to fall to his knees and just fall apart. As it was, he still couldn't deny himself the desire to tell her. What would one day truly matter? "Salem. Salem is the enemy," he muttered, his voice torn between being loud enough for her to hear and quiet enough to obscure the truth. "She played us all for fools and is trying to destroy... everything. Oz stayed here to keep an eye out, I left to search. Somewhere along the line she got – She got Aced to do her dirty work." He let those words sink in to the terrified woman's Heart for a while. "She can control our Keyblades, commands legions of Heartless. All in search of the **χ** -blade." He suddenly found he was incapable of stopping his words. The sentences were not even planned out as the information spilled from him. "Not that it mattered. The war was inevitable anyways. People were always going to war over the Light; if not all of you, it would have just been someone else. The World was doomed, even if Salem didn't do this. Something is going to survive, but only if we stop her. Only if we fight, and I know you hate that. I know you don't want that war, because doing it will end everything! The War feeds the End, but the End can't be prevented, only... changed, partly. I -" His voice caught and he shook his head in disappointment. "I... Oz is trying to hide it, but I know the truth too. The Keyblades? They're Hearts. Ours are, at least. New ones, ones that aren't like that, are showing up now that the War is upon us but... But our Keyblades are people Salem murdered. Our weapons are sin."

Ava was silent for a long time, shocked by learning so much so quickly. "But... But that's..."

Skye sighed and looked up at the blue above them. "Yes, _that_ is the truth about the traitor." He let his gaze fall back down to Ava, who was shaking angrily. "Is this reality something that can be stopped by you, I wonder?"

"I can't believe _this_ is reality!" Ava shouted, sweeping her arm across her chest.

Skye smiled beneath his hood. She's always believed a happy ending could be found for everyone. She was wrong, if only partly. Happy endings could only be found by those who tried to reach them – like her – as good people. She would find happiness in her ending, no matter what that ending was. The others were too busy fighting each other, trying to kill each other... They didn't believe the war was inevitable, they blamed each other and tried to stop it! They could have been preparing, as one, yet instead they all became their own enemies. "That's why, as fated, the battle is unavoidable," Skye said simply. He turned away from her to stare out at his home one more time, for the final time. "Even if there is another answer, it must come after the battle."

Skye smiled. "Maybe Oz – Maybe the Master was less interested in the fate of the World, and more interested in finding out how we disciples would guide the Keys?" he suggested. It made sense. Oz knew that stopping Salem would come down to the two of them versus her while the others either dealt with the traitor or died by his hand: the War was the duty of the others. But how that War turned out was based entirely on how the others pulled together again, on how guided their own fates. He'd been interested in seeing them heal, to fight as one, and they had simply refused.

Ava didn't understand. "Us over the World!? There's no way!" she protested. Skye turned around to explain himself, but she continued shouting. "Luxu... You're just making your own use of the Master's intentions." Ava summoned her Keyblade and Skye flinched. A fight? She wanted a fight!? "There's no way the Master would want something like that!" She swept her Keyblade forward and readied for battle with her friend. Skye kept his Keyblade at his side, unwilling to enter into this battle.

"Ila..." he muttered quietly. He dismissed his old Keyblade and quickly traded it out for his newer one. "Ephemer, do you know if I'm right?" The boy's voice didn't answer. He had become more and more quiet over the past eighteen months. It was likely that what had remained of his Soul in the Keyblade had begun to move on if it had not already left entirely. Skye smiled and turned away from Ava again before pulling down his hood. His blue eyes were filled with tears that had yet to streak down his face, and he kept them there. He slowly hefted the Master Keeper to his shoulder. "Ila, the World was doomed no matter what he did. He trusted you guys with saving what was left, and out of all them you were the only one who recognized the Truth."

Her Keyblade clinked, a noise of confusion and hesitation. "Your Dandelions, ready to run to the world outside, ready to be thrown into the winds of Darkness to protect the fragments of Light that will reappear," Skye muttered as the first tears drifted down his cheeks. He laughed once and turned around, entering his own battle stance. "You were never one to give up on friends, so this battle must be fated."

The red headed woman clenched her jaw behind her mask, and Skye's sad smile turned into a sad frown. "Don't cry, Ila. You've done everything you should have. You can live without regrets," he explained. He laughed to try and cheer her up. He exited his battle stance and reached into his pocket, only stopping when he pulled out a simple Keychain. It was that of his old Keyblade, blue eye an ocean of tears as it stared out from his palm. After a momentary hesitation, he tossed it to her and smiled when she dismissed her Keyblade and clumsily caught the weapon's Heart in her hand. "When all this is over, when the World ends and something else shows up, I promise to find you and get that back, okay? I promise, I'll come back to you."

Ava looked taken aback, and was completely dumbfounded. She could not even respond as he pulled his hood up and summoned a portal of Light. There was a loud, echoing _clang_ as the clocktower bells rang out their song. Skye turned his head slightly and smirked. "It's the day of the Keyblade War, then," he said. The Light above seemed to dim, and night quickly fell, as if all the Light that had remained was now disappearing. Skye looked over at Ava one last time and waved at her. "I'll... I'll see you soon, okay?" Then he took a step backwards into the portal.

The world around him suddenly changed, the forested outskirts of Daybreak Town replaced with the stormy and deserted Badlands, where Ozpin had hidden the **χ** -blade years before, locked away behind a barrier that only a massive release of energy could destroy. "And here we are," Salem said. Skye turned and saw Ozpin standing with his Keyblade at the ready and his eyes locked onto his old love. Skye summoned the Master Keeper and entered his own battle stance. "At the Ends of the Earth." She raised her right hand out directly in front of her. A bright light flashed in her fist, summoning her golden and white Keyblade parallel with the ground. The weapon _clanked_ as gravity suddenly began to act upon it, and she brought it up into her battle stance beside her head, the glowing weapon highlighting the mania in her black and red eyes as well as the twisted, black veins now trailing across her skin. "I've been waiting for you, Ozpin."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Yang's hair was basically made of flames at this point as she jumped around the attacks of Adam Taurus, still having trouble finding out a way to adapt to his crazy stretch arm. To make matters worse, these Minotaurs kept rushing her from all sides. She had been nearly trampled to death every time she had avoided one of Adam's attacks. But as soon as she started to pay attention to the Heartless, she would be forced to react at the last second to the incoming red blade of her living opponent.

Yang growled angrily to herself at the next Heartless coming her way. "Ruby's better at this whole 'planning' thing than me," she groaned, raising her hands in front of her. With a snarl of rage, she grabbed hold of the horns before they could reach her, and lifted the creature above her head. Turning towards Adam, she tossed the Heartless straight at him. She followed its soaring form until it took the blow from Adam's sword that was meant for her, then jumped over its already disappearing body and raised both hands together above her head. A brilliant blaze of energy covered her laced fingers, and she brought the two handed blow down with enough force to shatter solid titanium.

Adam Taurus, however, just stumbled back from the force of the blow. He grimaced and snarled as he stood up, revealing that the bone white mask on his face had a long, thin fracture down the center. "How did you walk away from that?" Yang asked before feeling a Minotaur slam full force into the small of her back. She was thrown forward and received a powerful kick to the face from Taurus.

Yang stumbled backwards a couple steps before regaining her composure. She grinned at her opponent then spat out a small globule of blood. She wiped a thin line of blood from the corner of her mouth and entered her battle stance again. "I'm getting real tired of this bullshit," she grunted. She lashed out with her fist and landed a fire coated blow on the skull of the next incoming Heartless, stunning it and letting her throw it straight through another one. The two disappeared in a burst of shadows and she turned her attention to Taurus' incoming sword. She sidestepped the blow and, using her prosthetic limb, grabbed hold of the blade. Tearing it from the grip of the man's shadowy claw, she quickly tossed it straight at the Heartless nearby and it shrieked and died as the blade pierced its skull and it died.

The shadowy claw, she failed to notice, did not stop moving however, and she yelped in surprise when it dug into the wall and straightened out. She was slammed into the wall, leaving a Yang sized imprint in the metal. "Ow," she groaned as Taurus walked over to his sword and lifted it with his one remaining hand.

"Rrragh!" Yang screamed, and an aura of flames erupted all around her body. Adam gasped in surprise as the sudden fires burned away the Darkness that entrapped Yang, and the resultant pressure change forced him to stumble back. His sword clattered against the ground far from him.

The woman, still on fire, grinned as she walked towards Taurus. He had already recovered, and was now standing defensively, trying to reform his arm. "Close," Yang said, her glowing features giving her the appearance of a fire goddess. "But you know – Horseshoes and Dust grenades." She raised her fist at the terrorist and readied to bring it down and end him...

Only for a sharp blow to glance across her exposed side. Yang roared in pain as blood spurted from the wound and her fiery blow went wide, the explosion instead punching a hole in the wall. "Tch," Adam growled to himself, disappointed the blow hadn't landed fully. Nevertheless, he rolled backwards, kicking Yang in the chin as he did, and came to his feet. His shadowy arm, which had been the thing holding his sword that had attacked Yang from behind, coiled back to its normal size and shape at his right side. "Close, but you know – Horseshoes and Dust grenades." He raised his blade at the panting young woman.

Yang cursed at herself. She'd put too much into that last blow, thinking she was free and clear. _Stupid, stupid!_ She shouted at herself, already afraid it would be the last mistake she ever made. She fell to her knees and clutched at the pain in her side with both hands.

"Any last words, _Bimbo_?" Adam snarled.

"I'm a Dragon, you Steer," she snapped, earning a rage filled quiver from Taurus for her insult.

"You're dead, is what you are." Then he slashed down at her. She stared at the blow the entire time it came towards her, unafraid of whatever was coming next.

Only for another red blade to appear from nowhere, the flat of the incredibly long katana catching Taurus' blow. A feathered claw grabbed hold of his throat and lifted him from the ground. "Mom?" Yang asked as the bird like Heartless shrieked in rage at its newfound prey.

The new arrival angrily flailed its captive about, slamming him into walls, the floor, anywhere it could to just hurt him. Eventually, it just tossed him into the wall opposite Yang, where he dented the metal and then fell to the ground. "'M-mom?'" he echoed at Yang as he clutched his broken ribs. He looked up at the monster and snarled. "You look different this time." He lashed out suddenly with his right, shadowy arm in a surprise attack to destroy his attacker. The creature did not move, and simply took the blow. No damage was dealt to it, as if the shadows carving through it were meaningless. Raven's Heartless chittered for a moment, then began to slam its claws into Adam's face over and over again.

"Mom!" Yang's shouts for recognition were ignored, and the Heartless continued to mercilessly attack her prey, a roaring grumble in its throat that began to crescendo with every subsequent blow until the creature was basically screaming at the increasingly bloody Faunus.

"Finally, I was wondering when you would finally show up." A long, silver blade appeared out of nowhere and impaled the Heartless through its midsection. The large bird shrieked in pan and backed away from the Faunus while the blade disappeared in a burst of shadows.

"No!" Yang snapped, trying to stumble towards the Heartless. She fell to her knees and instead looked over at the attacker. "Great, it's Mom... _Again."_

"I'll be with you in a moment," Morrigan told the blonde before walking towards Raven's Heartless. The creature turned on the Nobody and cocked its head to the side in confusion. It's yellow eyes were red, now, and filled with recognition. "I have a pest to exterminate first."

The Heartless growled and raised its own bladed arms towards Morrigan. "An enclosed space against such a large creature. I wonder who will win," Morrigan mocked before summoning a much shorter and more manageable version of her weapon to her hands. "Now, I will destroy my weakness in one swoop." The Heartless hissed again before rushing Morrigan, and the fight between Raven and Raven erupted before her daughter's eyes.

"Mom," Yang muttered half worriedly, half jokingly, "could you save the internal conflict for later?"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ruby flipped sideways over the next incoming blow from Penny and deflected the second attack that came her way while she was midair. The blinding white light around her Keyblade basically caused the attack to rebound at full speed off of its surface and into the wall. Ruby tossed her Keyblade after the dagger, spinning it top over bottom until it sliced clean through the steel wire. At that point, Ruby concentrated slightly and summoned it back to her hand just in time to land and raise a Reflega wall to block the incoming blaster bolts from every direction.

Ruby jumped forward just before the wall fell, and was through Penny's defenses with little trouble. "Um, I don't _think_ this hurts," Ruby said, grabbing the Keyblade with both hands and aiming her stab straight for the android's 'Heart.'

The room went upside down just as the attack made contact, ice exploding out from the room that Cinder had run into at the start of this battle. Ruby groaned and shattered the thin layer of frost that held her to the wall. She looked over and saw that Penny was in a similar predicament. Ruby wondered for a moment if the attack had done its job and saved her, but shoved the thought from her mind so she could observe her old enemy. "Now, it's about time I get a Keyblade of my own," Cinder growled as she exited a cloud of frost in the doorway, her eyes surrounded with glistening crystals of energy. "And you aren't going to need yours when you're dead."

Ruby shut her eyes tight and shook her head, trying to get rid of a building pressure between her temples. When it subsided for a moment, Ruby rolled her eyes and readied for the next battle. "Great, we're doing this now," she muttered dryly. Another jolt of pain ran between Ruby's eyes and she stumbled sideways a few steps before desperately trying to regain her footing for the inevitable sneak attack Cinder was going to unleash on her. Surprisingly, none came.

When Ruby regained her composure, she saw Cinder was in a similar predicament. She was clutching at her back as if she had been attacked from behind, and when she turned Ruby could see a quiet light shining from the small of her back in the shape of a Keyhole. Upon locking her gaze on the sparkling shape, Ruby felt the pain run through her eyes again. This time it was bad enough that Ruby dropped her Keyblade and clutched at her head. She shut her eyes and found the back of her eyelids was a bright silver. Ruby screamed out in pain for a moment, and reached for her Keyblade instinctively. She opened her eyes a little and saw the weapon was starting to glow bright as well. The pain intensified again and Ruby fell face first into the ground.

"What the hell are you doing to me!?" Cinder shouted at Ruby as she fell to her knees as well. She screamed in pain and rage while she struggled to push herself to her feet, then summoned up one of her swords. Ruby couldn't tell – the pain in her head was bad enough now that she could barely think straight. Cinder snarled and stumbled towards the Keyblade Wielder, holding her sword above her head. "Stop it! Stop it now!"

Ruby screamed and curled up on the ground, clutching at her head even tighter as the pain continued to build. This wasn't the same as when her Eyes had done things like this before. When she used it against Cinder last, the attack was painless, and again against Xehanort. This was entirely different, pretty much feeling like a knife dug into both of her eyes.

"Then I suppose – argh!" Cinder snarled, fighting through the pain at the center of her back. "I suppose killing you will stop this!"

Ruby was able to open her eyes at that, and looked up. She could tell that the silver energy was already starting to expand beyond her eyes, something she was fighting to prevent. It felt stronger than usual, besides the intense pain, and she couldn't tell how much damage it would do. Ruby gritted her teeth and struggled to her feet, too, lifting her Keyblade in front of her. She couldn't just die!

But it looked like she didn't need to worry about that, anyways. A silver and copper streak slammed into Cinder and threw her through the exit door. "Sal-u-tations!" Penny shouted, her voice bubbly and excited. Without her synthetic skin, the smile she had across her face was a _little_ scary, but she was standing like an excited child so Ruby could look past that. She realized suddenly that the feeling in her eyes had vanished almost completely, though there was still a painful pounding in her skull that made it a little painful to move. Work through the pain! The android turned towards Ruby and her green eyes sparkled happily. "RUBY! What are you doing here? Also, where is here?"

Ruby stood up and grinned. "Penny..." she felt tears drip from her eyes and ran forward to hug her friend. "I'm so happy to see you!" She pushed away from the android and thought for a moment that she looked exactly like she used to. "Everyone's waiting for us – your father -"

"You've met my father?" Penny asked excitedly. She smiled again. "Isn't he just the nicest, sunniest man?"

Ruby snorted. "Sure. Something like that," she agreed.

"So... what happened here, Ruby?" Penny inquired in her simply earnest tone. She looked down and yelped. "And where's my skin and clothes!" The robot covered herself and shook her head. "I'm naked!"

"We'll tell you all about it later," Weiss interrupted. Ruby and Penny looked over at the door that the heiress and Neptune had just exited, their features both paler and more worried than usual. "We need to get out of here."

Ruby's eyes widened when she understood. "DISC isn't here anymore?"

"The place was empty," Neptune replied. He sighed and gestured in defeat. "We checked floor to ceiling of every room, just in case."

"Hello, Weiss!" Penny said obliviously. She frowned and looked over at Ruby again. "Ruby, is something bad happening?"

"Something really bad." Ruby picked up her Keyblade from the frozen floor and walked cautiously towards the doorway. "Cinder's gone," she noted, shaking her head her head in self disappointment. She had basically let her go. "We need to go get Yang and everybody out of here so we can call Ozpin and Sora."

"Who is this 'Sora,' Ruby?" Penny inquired. "Your voice increases about an octave when you say his name... Do you... like him?"

Ruby blushed. "Yes, Penny. And I can't wait for you to meet him!" Ruby exclaimed, her problems forgotten for a moment.

"Ruby!" Weiss snapped. She pointed at her wrist as if gesturing impatiently at a watch.

"Right! Right..." the cloaked girl muttered sheepishly. She scratched back of her head for a moment, then ran into the center of the stairway. She pointed up and, grinning at her partner, pointed straight up. "Weiss, elevator us!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Yang panted heavily as she watched the terrible sight continue unfolding before her. Morrigan and the Heartless were assaulting one another with their full strength, aiming to completely annihilate the other. She groaned and pushed herself up to a sitting position so she could lean against the wall, where she noticed she was sitting directly across from Adam Taurus still. He was glaring at the two combatants with purely hate filled eyes. "So, Morrigan and this Heartless are... components of your mother?" the man asked, voice filled with disgust. "Had I known I would have struck her down myself."

Yang's throat rumbled with a quiet growl, but other than that she ignored what he had said. She didn't have the strength left in her exhausted body to stand up, let alone launch a Firaga into his face. If she could have, however, she would have already turned him into paste on the walls of a crater. "Answer me, human!" he snapped.

"So, what do the White Fang think about you losing to a human?" Yang asked. She smirked at him for a moment. "You hate her a lot – which means she's the one that took your arm and left you to die around your crazy followers."

"You know nothing of which you speak," he growled, a little too quickly.

"Oh... They gonna kick you out?" Yang mocked again, though her eyes were now locked on the battle playing out. The wound Morrigan had dealt Raven's Heartless was taking a heavy toll. The creature was growing slower and slower with every passing second, to the point where Morrigan was just toying with it now. Yang glanced over at Taurus. "Wh-what? They are? Well, looks like your only friends are the crazies who want to kill _everything_."

"Better a universe with nothing than a world with humans," Taurus spat spitefully.

The man's Scroll beeped before Yang could mock him some more, and words came out over a loud, closed channel. "We're leaving. Mercury, Emerald, release anything you think would be able to cause trouble down here then leave. Taurus, if you're still playing with the little girl stop it and leave."

Adam glared at the device on the floor beside him for a moment. "Go ahead. Be a good boy," Yang said, grinning savagely at the terrorist.

"I'll kill all of you," Adam snarled. Then he reached out with his barely formed arm of Darkness to grab his sword off of the ground, and melted through a portal of Darkness. After only a few moments, he disappeared.

Yang was quiet for a couple seconds. Then: "What an a-hole," she grumbled. She sighed and looked worriedly over at where her mother was fighting... her mother.

Morrigan was definitively winning by now, having used her shortened saber to slice off one of the bladed arms and both of the Heartless' wings clean off of its body. The appendages had faded away into clouds of Darkness, long gone from the confines of the hallway. The Heartless lashed out with its remaining blade at Morrigan's legs, simultaneously reaching for the woman's throat with its claws. The Nobody scoffed and parried the blade, then telescoped the blade to full length and placed the edge in the path of the Heartless' arms. The left claw of the creature flew off as its arm collided with the blade, as if butter crashing into a hot knife. The blade shrank once more in the Nobody's hands and she sliced through the other claw before the Heartless could react. Another lightning fast move and the other bladed arm disappeared as well.

Morrigan pressed her advantage as soon as she had it, and slammed her knee into the monster's midsection. The creature seemed to hover in place, the blow paralyzing it for a moment, then was thrown backwards when the telescoping blade pierced its shoulder and pinned it to the ground a dozen feet away. Yang followed the Heartless with her eyes, catching sight of the battle occurring far off near the entrance. Maybe Qrow or the others would get there, maybe they would help! Maybe...

Morrigan stalked towards the Heartless with a grim smile on her face. "I've been hunting you down since you saved Yang from me," Morrigan explained, slowly shortening the blade as she approached. The Heartless growled at the Nobody, what remained of Raven within the creature trying desperately to protect her daughter from the worst parts of herself. "Perhaps, though, once you are gone there will be less of Raven's weakness to hold me back. Then I can..." Morrigan looked over at Yang and fell quiet. She turned back to Raven's Heartless and placed her foot on its throat before withdrawing her blade from its body, placing the now flaming edge above the Heartless' red eyes.

"Stop!" Morrigan lowered her weapon and slowly turned to see Yang snarling at her, standing beaten and weak. The young woman's arms were barely able to stay up in a fighting stance, and it looked like the girl would tip over at any moment. Despite that, her eyes were the same brilliant red as Morrigan's and her hair was moving like it was made of fire. Her shoulders were heaving with every breath, and a stain of red could be seen spreading down her side. Despite that, she raised her right fist, blanketing it with sputtering fire, and threw the spell at the Nobody.

Morrigan watched the spell drift slowly towards her, dying out with every second it moved through open air. When it finally hit her, it was little more than cinders thrown apart by her body. "There's more where that came from," Yang muttered defiantly.

"I'm sure," Morrigan responded calmly. She turned back to the Heartless and buried her blade in its body once more so it would be unable to run, then walked over to Yang. The Nobody removed her mask, then crossed her arms and stared down at Yang's defiant eyes. "I don't know why you are so difficult to kill. All of my memories, they are meaningless. Images in my mind. But those that contain you... They hurt." Morrigan glanced at the ground, then back up at Yang. "They make me weak."

Yang shook her head when she felt her eyes start to drift shut. "Shaddap," she moaned. She stumbled a step to the side and raised her fists again.

"Hmph," Morrigan grunted. She was about to say something else, when a frozen Beowolf crashed into her chest. It shattered into a million pieces and she was thrown backwards, flying over the Heartless and landing with a thud just beyond it. The Nobody growled and pushed herself to her feet, seeing those who had just entered the fight. Ruby was easing Yang to the ground while a green light flooded over the blonde, healing her. Meanwhile, Neptune, Weiss, and a robot were glaring at Morrigan, ready for a fight.

"Get away from Yang!" Ruby shouted, standing up and summoning her Keyblade. She ran straight at Morrigan and delivered an overhand blow. The Nobody sidestepped the attack, if just barely, and jumped back towards the Heartless. She turned just in time to see a bolt of blue energy laced with flames flying at her head and ducked beneath it. Weiss stabbed at her head as she ducked, so she moved just beyond its reach and grabbed the rapier with her hand. She spun around and tossed the heiress into Neptune, leaving them both in a heap on the ground. The android ran forward, only for Ruby to appear between Morrigan and it. "You're hurt, Penny. Let me deal with this."

Morrigan snarled and took a step backwards so she could stand above the broken Heartless. Ruby turned into a torpedo of roses and slashed diagonally upwards at Morrigan, the Nobody twisting to the side to avoid it. She hissed as the tip of the blade passed through her trailing hair. The girl was getting faster. Morrigan barely ducked beneath the next slash and rolled to her feet just in time to receive a glancing blow across her trailing left arm. She yelped and spun around to a stop above the Heartless once more. The girl was getting _much_ faster. She would only have one chance to get away and still fulfill her primary objective. Morrigan took a breath and reached back with her good arm, placing her hand on the handle of the sword and preparing for her last move. Ruby shouted out angrily and brought her sword around in a horizontal strike one more time.

Morrigan was prepared, however, and pulled the blade out of the Heartless' shoulder. With just enough time to spare, she jumped and twisted midair, using her blade to slap the attack straight down. She then summoned a portal of Darkness in her path and continued flying through it, catching only glimpses of the Keyblade Wielder's eyes widening in panic before her weapon sliced cleanly through the chest of the Heartless. Then the door shut behind Morrigan, leaving the children alone.

"No!" Ruby shouted, hurriedly pulling her weapon from the Heartless' chest. She took a step back. Sure, it had been an inevitability, but... But Raven had still been in there somewhere. She had still been alive, despite the fact she had become a Heartless. She felt like... like she had just stabbed Yang's mom.

"Ruby what – No!" Yang shouted as she came to. She ran towards the Heartless, its broken form now leaking darkness. As soon as the young woman came near, placing her hand on the creature's arm, tears began to stream from her eyes. "M-mom..." She shut her eyes and fought off sobs. Tears fell from her face and landed on the Heartless' body.

Yang stopped crying and opened her eyes when a bright Light began to glow at the center of the hollow heart shape in its chest. Yang stared in surprise as the glow began to slowly expand until a pink, crystalline Heart was floating in front of her. "See you... soon," Raven's voice said from the Heartless' beak. Yang looked into the creature's red eyes and bit the inside of her cheek to fight off the tears, then nodded vigorously. She tightened her grip on the Heartless' arm until the Heart floated upwards, through the ceiling, and disappeared. Shortly thereafter, the creature's body disappeared as well, leaving the young warriors alone.

"Yang, I'm -"

Ruby was interrupted by a massive hug from the blonde. "She came back," she said happily as she continued to embrace her younger sister. Ruby felt Yang's tears on her cheek and smiled, quickly bringing up her empty hand to hug her sister back. "She always comes back."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Qrow sighed happily as he continued to sidestep the relatively clumsy blows of the Atlesian soldiers and droids, his Scythe dancing in a ribbon of destruction that knocked out humans, disarmed opponents, or completely decimated robotic enemies. Given the fact that the most recent enemies he'd fought had been monsters made out of Darkness, his sister's evil and emotionless body, and a Keyblade wielding witch older than Remnant that wanted to annihilate the entire universe, this was a really nice change of pace. He could even tell how much better at fighting he'd gotten. Him! Easily the best fighter on the planet who couldn't use a Keyblade, save Oz and maybe – _maybe_ – his sister on a good day. He was breezing through this crop of highly trained soldiers like they were children waving around toys. Deadly toys that could burn through his body and murder him, but that was only if they landed a hit.

Tai was having trouble, but that was only because he was both rusty and only used to fighting upper level criminals or Grimm, not complete monstrosities like the ones Qrow had seen. Still, he was doing pretty well. Just like Firecracker, the guy could shrug off most hits and demolish large groups of opponents with every blow. As if to prove this to Qrow, the blonde man picked up one of the droids and used it as a bat to knock a dozen of the soldiers and other robots to the ground.

Ice Queen was the average of the two. She was an Atlesian Specialist, so she'd been training against groups of these soldiers her entire life. She knew just how to exploit their fighting style, and on top of that she'd been training with Qrow, so of course she'd have gotten really good. Anyone who learned anything from him automatically became twice as good as they used to be. A huge glyph appeared behind the group of soldiers, now thinned down due to the trio's constant attacks since breaking in, and an explosion of blue, Dust based electricity exploded through their numbers. The robots heads exploded from the overload, and the auras of the soldiers fizzled out from the damage before falling unconscious. Qrow furrowed his brow. "Showoff," he muttered before spinning his scythe all around him and taking out the last of his own opponents in one blow. And, of course, it was the most show-offy attack he could use, because why not?

He rested the long handle of the weapon across his shoulders and looked over his shoulder at – "Ruby, Yang!" he shouted.

Tai immediately came to his partner's side. "What the hell happened to her?" the father growled as he saw his far off daughter supported by her younger sister and friends. He looked over to Qrow. "I'll go help them, they're my daughters. You keep the entrance clear with your girlfriend."

"She's not – Oh, it's not worth it," Qrow grumbled as his best friend sprinted towards the next generation of heroes. He turned around to smile at Ice Queen. "You aren't half bad."

Winter didn't say anything, instead just glaring at him dryly a she sheathed her sword. "I'm glad we ended that. I was out of Dust," the woman stated when Qrow shrugged at her silence and walked towards her.

"Well, soldier you should always be prepared. Demotion!" Qrow responded with a small smile. He coughed and the smile disappeared when he remembered what had happened the last time the two of them had been alone.

She obviously realized that, as her cheeks reddened to the same shade as his. "Um..." Qrow began. His eyes widened a moment later and his jaw fell open. "W-what's that?"

"What's wh-" Winter asked as she turned around. She was cut off by a metallic tortoise the size of the hallway bursting through the wall just beyond the unconscious soldiers she had defeated. The room it had just exited was destroyed, metal and stone filling the room as the tunnel system began to collapse. Winter sprinted towards the soldiers. She drew her blade, her only thought of saving their lives.

"Idiot!" Qrow hissed under his breath, then looked down to notice he was doing the same thing. "Idiot-er!" He growled and readied his now Dust-less weapon to slice through the creature with all the force he could bring to bear. He jumped towards the creature, over Winter's head, and slashed down as hard as he could at the less armored base of its neck, behind the two black horns coming out of its skull and just beneath the lip of the outer shell. He whined when the tip of the weapon simply bounced off of the creature's skin, and a brown claw swiped at him before he could respond. He was sent flying by the powerful blow, and could tell without looking at his Scroll that he'd lost an absurd chunk of his monstrous Aura. Unless Winter had suddenly become a tanking brawler, he was worried about whether she could even survive a blow like the one he had taken.

Thankfully, she seemed to have learned from how easily Qrow had been batted away and was instead dodging the deliberate but powerful attacks of the creature. Still, that could only last so long before the adamantine tortoise decided to just walk forward. Qrow groaned and pushed himself to his feet before picking up his scythe and trying to think this through. The thing's skin was unbreakable even at what should have been a weak point. He tried to find a way to kill the thing, but couldn't think of a way. It was too physically unbreakable, given how Winter's weapon was bouncing off of its flesh during each of her brief counterattacks. They didn't have a –

Qrow's mind shut off when the tortoise finally decided to just run forward. Its claw slammed into Winter and she was thrown across the hallway. "NO!" Qrow screamed, sprinting towards the creature. He launched himself towards the huge tortoise with an explosion of fire at the end of his scythe, then brought the weapon – now trailing huge crystals of ice – down. The blade slammed into the tortoise's head and, for a moment, nothing happened. Then the ice began to rapidly spread across the monster's body, freezing it solid at an incredible pace. Qrow roared a battle cry as his feet hit the ground and brought his weapon up then down again as hard as he could. The powerful blow shattered the monster's skull and sent cracks running down the rest of its body. After a few seconds, the rest of its form exploded into large chunks of frozen flesh that ricocheted off of the walls and landed in a pile in front of Qrow. He began to pant, as if he had used everything within him to destroy the monster. "Huh, so that's what magic feels like... _Winter!"_

The veteran warrior turned on his heel and sprinted towards where she had landed, and now laid completely still. He dropped his scythe and slid to a stop on his knees beside her. His fingers flew to her throat to check her pulse, and his heart went similarly still. "No... You..." He positioned her on her back and placed both hands on her chest. He took a single deep breath, then began to perform the compressions. "Come on... Come on...!"

"Winter!? Wh – What's going on!?" Weiss snapped as the others came close.

Qrow ignored her and continued to methodically press down on the specialist's chest. "Dammit, Winter, you're not doing this to me," Qrow growled, his mind silencing everything around him. Ruby's words, Weiss' rage... it all disappeared. All that he had was pressing down on the woman's chest and the memories of their kiss flashing through his head. "Wake up... Wake -"

Winter took a gasping, hoarse breath and Qrow flinched backwards instinctively. "What..?"

"Sister, you're okay!" Weiss shouted happily, moving forward.

She was cut off by Ruby's uncle, however. "Fucking woman," Qrow grunted before grabbing Winter's cheeks and pulling her into a kiss. Probably not the best thing for someone who needed to breathe, but Qrow didn't really care at the moment.

The noise Winter made could only be described as "!" After a moment, however, her right hand drifted up to the back of Qrow's head and she began to kiss him back.

"Um... well at least she's okay," Yang pointed out.

"What are they doing, Ruby?" Penny asked innocently.

"Really? You don't – Kissing!" Neptune shouted. He shook his head. "What the hell did Doctor Polendina bother teaching you if you don't know something that simple?"

"We're all very happy, Uncle Qrow, but DISC is gone!" Ruby shouted. As happy as she was for him, they didn't have the time for this at that exact moment.

That snapped the two warriors out of it. Qrow pulled away and his jaw clenched tightly. "Dammit," he growled. He jumped to his feet and pulled Winter up with him. She didn't expect him to pick her up bridal style, and she moved to tell him off. Without looking at her, he cut off her coming castigation. "Your Heart wasn't beating, you don't get to walk."

Winter sighed in disgust. "I won't be happy about it," she protested angrily. She gestured at the door. "Proceed."

Qrow nodded, for once too aware of the gravity of the situation to make a joke. He sprinted up the stairs, taking care not to jostle the woman in his arms yet also determined to warn Ozpin as soon as humanly possible. He reached the city after only a few seconds, and gingerly let Winter down to her feet pulling his Scroll to his ear.

There was a brief second of ringing before the line picked up. "Oz! Oz, DISC wasn't in Blue Fairy!"

"I am aware," Ozpin muttered on the other side of the line. The ancient warrior stared up at the image of Jacques Schnee on a huge Scroll screen at the center of Vale.

"... is why I am telling you that this is not the way I wanted this to end. But with the Dragon on Beacon waking up, we have little choice. Either we destroy it and Vale in the process now, or we risk all of Remnant." He wearily ran his fingers down his mustache and chin. "I hope this will give you the time you need to make peace." Then the screen went black and the tremors started, followed immediately by panicked screaming and rioting.

"I am all _too_ aware," Ozpin said before turning towards Sora and the others who stood with him. "We will call you when this is over, or..."

Qrow was quiet for a while, the only noise the static resulting from Vale's tower shaking because of the Earthquake. "You guys better live or I'm killing you."

Ozpin nodded. "... Goodbye, Qrow. It's been an honor."


	33. Do You Believe in Destiny?

**AN:**

 **Surprise! It isn't a Sora chapter... Yeah, I know that's what most of you were expecting, what with that little cutaway to Ozpin at the end. I tricked you! Maybe. I dunno. Moving on, Jaune. It's a Jaune chapter.** ** _The_** **Jaune chapter, actually. Big, hopefully heart-wrenching, plans. I mean, as you can tell from the chapter title.**

 **Just the one chapter, though, not like the Ruby couplet before this and the Sora couplet after.**

 **Anyways, I did most of this over the weekend and pounded out the rest when I got sick and couldn't go in to class.**

 **Responses!**

 **To gamelover41592: Thanks! Uh, Adam... He's more on level, I guess, with some of the Villain Council characters from the first game in terms of Darkness, so stronger of Heart and Darkness than most, but nowhere near Riku or Xehanort.**

 **To goddragonking: Thanks! I hope that the writing stays good.**

 **To CraZramblinGhost: Yeah, Papa Schnee... Anyways, I'm glad that my Emerald and Mercury are good. If I start on the spin off after this story end, they'll show up a lot. I'm also happy that the humor last chapter was a good offset for the meatier, sadder bits.  
Don't worry about Papa Schnee. He and the Atlas Council are going to have a trial after everything with DISC is sorted out, so he'll get his eventually.  
Yes, Penny did get upgrades to her combat programming and hardware, which is how she was able to keep up with Ruby and Cinder, but she was also more efficient without any of the human her splitting her concentration. I hope to stay brilliant!**

 **To warrior of six blades: Yeah, I feel for Skye and Ava, too. It would suck to live in interesting times and be the main actors in deciding history.  
Winter's family guilt is going to influence her epilogue/ending decisions a lot, especially since her father is going to be in prison for his crimes. Someone needs to make up for it, and she's not going to make Weiss shoulder that burden.**

 **To Guest: Great, I'm glad it made up for the slower chapter before it! Sora will not have a sidekick type character, but Skye is going to show up outside of the Keyblade War time period eventually, and in an important way for the Keyblade's Chosen.**

 **To Kingofclubs8129: Ruby is more like a reborn Kairi, in a way. Since in KH lore everyone is made up of a Body, a Soul/Will, and a Heart, the way I'm going about it is that Ruby is the same Heart with its memories wiped mostly clean, and a different Body and Will. So if she died it would actually be death, even if Namine was around. Of course, given how weird Namine and the other central Nobody characters are compared to other Nobodies, I'm not a hundred percent sure how the lore would work all the time. Ah, KH lore, I love you but you confuse me...**

 **To kf17: I've got a plan, a little, for a spin off more than a straight sequel. The events in this will be important, but Sora probably won't be the main character of that story. He'll be there, of course, but I want to do something a bit different.**

 _ **Chapter 33: Do You Believe in Destiny?**_

Salem stared at the book that she held open in her hand, smiling down at the pages detailed with the portraits of monumental Heartless from deep within the Realm of Darkness. With her thumb, she deftly flipped the page to study the next demonic creature. It seemed that Xehanort had created more types of Heartless following her departure from that time, ones adorned with an emblem inspired by that of the **χ** -blade and covered in more colors than simply red and black. She ran her free hand across the page, taking in the creature on that page. From its description, this Heartless was beyond huge, a walking mountain that even dwarfed the creature awakening in Vale. It was a huge and stony creature shaped like the skeleton of an elephant. Its tusks were sharp and spiny, tipped with a silvery metal, while its main body was like a savanna of its own, coated entirely in grass and dotted with huge trees. At the center of its back was another body reminiscent of an evil looking shaman or a monkey of some sort with a two faced mask. Salem smirked, and this creature was not the strongest or even the _largest_ described in the Journal. That honor went to a Heartless Xehanort had fused with, a being of Darkness created from the shattered Hearts of entire Worlds.

Salem moved to the page describing that being and the Realm of Darkness itself. Once the terror and Darkness within the Hearts of Vale's citizenry reached a truly fevered pitch, releasing the full force of its power and fully awakening the Dragon from its frozen slumber, her plan would truly be in its final stages. She waved her free hand and the Black Dust coating the ground beneath her coagulated, forming a stand upon which she could place the book while she awaited the terror that Atlas' DISC was going to inspire. Salem loved how easy it was to see what humans would do, the Darkness in their Hearts always finding a way to devour the Light in the face of even the smallest amount of adversity. If it had not been for Ozpin and those few like him, the Worlds would have fallen away long ago. But the Hope they inspired could not outlast them, something easily seen in the aftermath of Ozpin's 'Death.'

Salem glanced over at Jaune and smiled. He was leaning against a nearby wall of Dust, arms crossed over his chest and eyes locked on the shattered moon above. No doubt he was pondering the girl for whom he was willing to cast off his friends. She recognized such loyalty was tenuous, of course. What one was willing to sacrifice for the sake of those they loved was always balanced by the question of what they would forgive. Despite this, Salem was not worried. His abandonment of his friends had created a precedent in his behavior; at this point, he likely believed they could not forgive him. He had grown immeasurably in power since that first meeting, from little more than a boy filled to the brim with rage to someone on par with any of Ozpin's old students. Save, of course, for the one that succeeded him.

At the thought of that young man, Salem growled and clenched her fists. The Thief. She had been so close to achieving her ultimate dream when he had surprised her with his power. A Keyblade not beholden to her, one that had freed Ozpin's. With it, they had severely weakened her by the time the **χ** -blade had been in her grasp. Truly, she had underestimated the lengths to which Ozpin and his student would go in order to defeat her. That was not a mistake she would make again. As soon as she had the **χ** -blade, he and his students would die. Until then, he would be unable to find her. Magical barriers of Darkness and mists that confused any who entered them pervaded the dragon shaped continent that rested between Vacuo and Vale, making traversal of its lands impossible unless one could use a Corridor of Darkness to enter its confines. All those who could do that worked for her, save a single powerful Nobody who cared little for waging war against Salem.

Salem next turned her attentions to the broken weapon with its blade buried in the Dust. It was just within arm's reach, the shattered remains of the **χ** -blade. She had used immense amounts of Black Dust, the remains of Hearts and Keyblades borne of the purest Darkness, to repair the weapon. However, even with the almost endless piles of Darkness she had used it seemed she was barely any closer to repairing the weapon. She had replaced perhaps half of the six missing pieces of Darkness in the weapon, leaving three more of those to say nothing of the four shards of Light she needed to balance the weapon's abilities. She could gather those once she began the final battle, just as she had taught Xehanort to do so many years before.

"Argh!"

Salem smiled and turned to look at the Maiden who had just come into her presence, the young woman panting heavily and clutching at her back. Her servants stood to either side of her, their eyes locked on the place where Cinder's hands had tried to reach. Salem walked over to her student and let her own eyes lock on the young girl's back. "So you claimed the power of the last Maiden from where Schnee had imprisoned her," Salem noted simply as she continued to stare at the glimmering Keyhole at the center of the woman's back, the result of holding he power of all four Maidens.

The Maidens, the four women who had inherited not only most of Ozpin's magical prowess, but also the Keyhole of this patchwork Remnant. By sacrificing his Keyblade, the man had somehow managed to fracture the Keyhole itself. Salem could not use it to destroy the Heart of the world unless the power was concentrated in the hands of a single woman, something Ozpin had managed to make impossible. A woman could only naturally inherit one of the four fragments, so Salem had simply found a way around that inheritance. With those gloves, she had created a way to birth a single Maiden. Sadly, her earlier attempts had failed, and she thought finding someone who could hold all four fragments may have been impossible. She had nearly given up before she found Cinder Fall.

"Just in time." Salem smiled, tapping her foot as if in time with the single, powerful crescendo of destruction far away in Vale. She breathed in, as if she could smell the Darkness that accompanied the pain, and laughed. Salem turned slowly and walked slowly towards the Book, her dress and cape swaying with every step she took.

Cinder frowned and stood up slowly, her entire body shaking with exhaustion. "Just in time for what?" She grimaced as the pain ran up her spine once more, nearly sending her back to her knees. Emerald and Mercury caught her just in time to keep her from slamming face first into the ground, steadying her. She pulled away from them and held herself up; she refused to be weak.

"The book," Jaune grumbled. He looked over as the mute criminal and the Faunus terrorist came out of the shadows as well, his eyes narrowing on the two of them. He hated to find himself standing with them, though not nearly as much as he hated standing beside Cinder Fall. He wanted to annihilate her, to kill her with his own two hands. He was strong, however; he could stand with people he despised until he had what he wanted. He looked up at the moon again and shut his eyes. "It's going to open a door, remember?"

Cinder's fists quaked at her sides. She could not believe that Salem was still so obsessed with this boy, this child. She gasped and stumbled to the side once again. "Oh, Cinder, I suppose we should keep you awake for this," Salem said, further infuriating her former first student. The Kingdom Key flashed into the ancient woman's hand and she approached the young woman. Cinder screamed and fell to her knees again. The glimmering on her back intensified, the light shooting out feet away from her body to create the image of a Keyhole in the air. Almost in tandem the Keyblade in Salem's hand did the same, its tip beginning to shine with bright and powerful Light. Salem shook the weapon and the Light disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Instead, she coated her weapon in Darkness and waved it over Cinder's head. She had a destiny to fulfill, but it would not do to be completed by Salem's hand. The Darkness wafted over Cinder, coating her entire form in its energy and causing the Light on her back to quietly slumber.

The Keyblade disappeared. "Is that better?" Salem asked sincerely, holding her now empty hand out to the Maiden. Cinder blinked in surprise; the pain in her back was completely gone! She nodded and placed her hand in Salem's, letting the ancient witch pull her to her feet. "Good, then we can continue."

She walked back to the book and placed her hand upon its opened pages, wordlessly letting her blackened nails drag across the image of the deepest Darkness. This book was the last connection to a Heart long forgotten and shattered by time, a deep Darkness that could only be reawakened by untold anguish that came in the throes of a thousand lives stolen in an act of pure foolishness. Salem summoned her Keyblade to her left hand and raised it towards the moon, keeping her right hand placed flat on the center of the open book the entire time. Her Heart yearned for that untold Darkness so far away that filled the hearts of millions. She wanted to be fed, to be filled to the brim with its power so she could sate her hunger for just a moment.

The Keyblade reacted with that burning desire and began to glow with fiery power. Darkness burned at its core and launched itself into the sky, the beam of energy arcing towards the shattered moon above. Jaune looked down as his chest constricted, though he couldn't tell why. Something in him felt... wrong. He shoved the feeling down as he had for months and looked up once more. The Darkness seemed to be calling out to its kind, the energy creating spiderwebs of Darkness across the eternally black sky. They were barely visible against that starless dome. Occasionally the purple tinged veins would pulse, the only sign that the energy was being gathered from Vale's screaming, terrified Hearts. The entire thing lasted just less than a minute before Salem brought the bubbling ball of Darkness at the tip of her weapon, the sphere ready to burst with its power. She placed the ball on the surface of the book, and it seemed to devour it whole, energy immersing the pages in inky destruction.

When the entirety of the energy finally disappeared, Salem took a step away from the book. The Keyblade fell at her side, dangling loosely from her fingers. A wild grin spread across her features, despite the silence that was continuing to grow. The book was not responding, it was just a silent bunch of pages. Jaune looked towards Salem, studying her wild eyes, the burning desire that was rarely present in her insane, spark-less soul. "What are we -"

The air pulsed around the book, the Darkness of an entire forgotten universe accompanying it. The pages of the book seemed to drift out of the binding, floating upward towards the moon. Each was as black as the sky above. From one page exploded a creature of pure Darkness, a silver clad knight with a blue and red Heart insignia emblazoned across its chest. Its yellow eyes locked on Jaune for a moment, then it disappeared in a burst of inky smoke. Another creature appeared from another page, the paper shredding in its wake before the creature disappeared as well. Soon the pages exploded like popcorn, creatures appearing and disappearing in bursts of shadow. "Yes..." Salem muttered. Her grip on the Keyblade tightened and her ornate hair seemed to drift upwards from sheer force of hungry emotion. The pages rose faster and faster now, the creatures appearing were larger and larger every time. "Yes..." Salem's voice grew more frantic, her eyes wider. Then the book was empty, no pages left to drift to the sky. Salem took a half step forward... "Yes..!"

Pure Darkness exploded from the empty hard cover of the Journal, and Jaune felt himself be tossed about like he was in a hurricane. The world was drowning him in its Darkness, an ocean he was unsure he could even survive. _Jaune..!_ He felt the ghost of fingers drag across his arm for a moment and his eyes flew open. The world was straight again, the energy from the book long since disappeared. "It's..." He looked up and saw that the sky had filled with entirely new shapes, spheres of beautiful colors made less so by the pure evil that burned in their mixing. He felt his bones chill, until he saw Cinder pushing herself to her feet. The image of a shattered Pyrrha ran through his thoughts and that chill was replaced with enraged fire. The Darkness above no longer seemed so chilling.

"Darkness in its purest form. I've never seen it before," Salem said, stretching her hands out to the sky. The Keyblade in her left hand clanked and she laughed exuberantly. "It's... It is beautiful, Oz..."

Then, as with any so purely dedicated to Darkness, her entire being turned on a dime. She aimed the Keyblade at Cinder and her smile became a quiet smirk. "Now, for the next part of the plan."

Cinder took a half step back in surprise, wondering what was about to happen. Salem turned and pointed the weapon at Jaune next. The Knight's steely gaze turned from Cinder and he felt his own Keyblade jump into his hand. "Cinder, Jaune, do you know why I created the two of you?"

"So we could fight," Cinder responded simply. Jaune couldn't help but agree; what other reason could there be?

"No... This war is decided by Keys, by power and by number," Salem explained. She lowered her Keyblade to the ground and it disappeared. "More than a thousand years ago, Ozpin and I arrived on this world. It was powerful, the fragments of a thousand worlds that had survived what should have been their death. Only the most powerful Lights could survive the death of Kingdom Hearts, and the patchwork Heart of Remnant became stronger for it. The Darkness that needed to be overcome to simply survive had crafted a powerful Light." Salem walked back over to the husk of the book and the people behind her all exchanged a confused glance. "But it was a patchwork, back then. Still... temporary and yet to be cemented. So, as a way to stop me from finding that Light, Ozpin sacrificed everything he still had from our home. The Keyhole, the only way to access a world's Heart, be it for Light or Dark, was fractured into four pieces. His power sacrificed and placed into the Hearts of four young women who renewed his belief in humanity, he wandered this world as a teacher, sure he had defeated me, but still obsessed with protecting what he had created. I started a war to get it from him, and he responded by creating schools of warriors to prevent me from doing so. So I planned around that, finding someone who would serve me and bring those fragments together once more." Salem picked up the book's remains and slammed it shut with her hand. "Cinder."

"She's villain monologuing," Mercury whispered to Emerald. "I'm... getting a little worried."

"And now I need that lock opened so Darkness can, when I desire it to, seek it out," Salem said. She turned around and gingerly placed the cover on the ground before slamming her foot into its face. "Which unfortunately means, Cinder Fall, you are no longer necessary."

The Maiden's eyes widened and she took a step back, trying to summon a portal of Darkness. She failed, and looked down worriedly at her hands. "Oh, I'm not going to kill you," Salem said, smiling at her student. "What I did to keep you from dying at the hands of the Keyhole, it's now keeping you here. I am only going to keep you here. _He_ is going to kill you." Cinder's eyes followed Salem's finger all the way to Jaune Arc. The blonde was staring, more than a little surprised, at Salem.

"Then I suppose I don't have anything to worry about," Cinder growled. She brought her hands up and a pair of blades appeared out of the Black Dust on the ground, ready to kill the Knight.

"Neither do I," Jaune responded. His bones continued to burn with rage and he glared at Cinder before entering his own fighting stance. "I've been waiting for this."

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _The First Great Keyblade War_

Death echoed through the countless screams of the young Keyblade Wielders meeting their ends on the battlefield below the glimming Kingdom Hearts, their Hearts finding release as they were struck down by the rage – no, the hatred of those they once called their closest friends. With every moment that passed, a dozen more of the warriors passed into the next world and faded from existence. Their power rose from their hatred, each blow feeding the destruction of the barrier containing the ancient **χ** -blade floating not far off. Beneath the weapon and its emerald barrier were a trio of warriors fighting to decide the fate of those that survived the war.

Just like those children, these three had once been friends. Family, almost. Despite what they all may have claimed, they had loved each other and supported one another despite whatever Darkness came. But those bonds could last only so long when one of the people it connected wanted to destroy them. At a point, not everyone can have a happy ending, and that possibility had long since passed for this trio.

"I haven't seen a glare that angry in a long time," Salem noted when Skye delivered a massive two handed blow with the Master Keeper. The two Keyblades thundered against one another, the air exploding around them. The two warriors pushed as hard as they could against one another and Skye's glare deepened. "What's got you down, Thief?"

"You hurt Ozpin," Skye growled quietly. He struggled against the woman's blade, though the two of them did not move at all. Equals in battle. "You promised you wouldn't."

"Did I?" she asked. She shrugged and jumped out of their blade lock, casually dodging the incoming swipe that Ozpin was aiming at her head. She slid to a stop a few feet away and grinned at the two men in black coats standing across from her on the battlefield. "A different time, a different dream." She raised her empty hand in front of her and fired an explosive ball of Dark fire at her opponents, her hand flying backwards from the backlash of the attack. Skye jumped ahead and slapped the attack away with his weapon, causing the Darkness to fly across the battlefield and crash into a mountain. There was a quiet hiss, then a huge portion of the mountain disappeared in a sudden and powerful explosion of Darkness.

"W-wow," Skye muttered, his eyes locked on where the explosion had landed. He glared at Salem. "I know you're trying to kill us, but isn't that overkill!?"

Salem snarled and moved to attack him, only to be surprised when a scorpion's tale slashed at her throat. She bent at the knees and slid beneath the attack, pulling herself up with her core and spinning towards her attacker. Her eyes met Ozpin's for a moment before she brought the Kingdom Key down with both hands. The weapons slammed into the ground and his weapon was suddenly pinned to the ground by her blade. He pulled as tight as he could, railing against the strength of the woman. She gasped in surprise when both of the Keyblades slowly began to rise.

Apparently it was not fast enough for Ozpin's liking, however, as his right hand released his grip on his Keyblade so he could deliver an elbow shot to her temple. Even with the resistance her Keyblade gave her, it was a surprising blow. She hissed and raised her hand. "Enough!" she snarled, motioning with her Heart to pull her creation from his hands.

The Keyblade kept coming.

Salem jumped backwards, barely breaking out of her frozen state to avoid the blow. That wasn't possible, the Keyblades she had created were beholden to her! They needed to listen! She turned around just in time to deflect Skye's swipe at her skull, then spun around Ozpin's next attack. She understood when she had a moment to breathe: the Thief's new weapon. "I'm not the only one to betray Ozpin though, am I?" she inquired mockingly she let her weapon fall to her side and pointed at the younger man with her free hand. "You created a weapon just as strong as the Kingdom Key, which means you know how a Keyblade is created. You are just as Dark as I am, Thief!"

Ozpin growled and raised his weapon in front of him again, rushing Salem with a flurry of blows from every side. "No, Salem, _I_ forged the Master Keeper," he snarled. He slapped her weapon down and tried to stab his blade into her chest. The blade grazed despite her attempt to dodge, and she was sent spinning across the battlefield. She bounced twice, clouds of dust flying out around her when she returned to the air. On the third landing, she dragged across the ground, to the edge of the cliff that overlooked the Keyblade War – now with perhaps half of its combatants remaining.

Salem pushed herself slowly to her feet and glancing into the sky above so she could see the **χ** -blade. The weapon flared up for a moment as the deaths and destruction echoed out from her War, calling out to the moon so far above. She sighed and shook her head. This was not going well, it was not going well at all. Salem gritted her teeth as the two warriors ran at her, side by side. They mirrored each other down to the way they ran, with their Keyblades raised above their inner shoulders.

Salem sprinted at them in turn, her Keyblade trailing behind her and her hand raised in front of her. She coated it in energy and threw it forward, creating portals of Shadow in the path of her adversaries. From within the doorways erupted creatures of pure Darkness, Heartless. "Perhaps an even playing field would be nice," she grunted as the Novashadows tore themselves from the Darkness and launched themselves at Ozpin and Skye.

She glanced between the two warriors of Light, unsure which of them would be ideal to battle first. She decided on the greater of the two threats, the one with a weapon capable of matching her own. Skye had already destroyed two of the half dozen Heartless assaulting him and was working on the third when she appeared above him as little more than a group of thin black lines. She slashed down at his head, the blade approaching his head to kill him. "Reflect!" Salem's blade slammed into the bright wall of Light and she was suddenly thrown backwards. She flipped midair and summoned up a Corridor of Darkness behind her, falling through it and appearing behind Skye just as his reflective wall disappeared. She stabbed at the middle of his back, sure he wouldn't be able to stop her this time.

Skye was faster than she thought, however. He spun to the side, reaching out with his off hand to grab one of the Novashadows trying to kill him and throwing it into the attack. The Heartless exploded in a cloud of Darkness and just like that only three more of the creatures remained to attack him.

Skye used the momentum of Salem's attack to slap his weapon into her face. She roared in pain and stumbled backwards. "How did you get so strong!?" Salem snarled as she opened her eyes and blocked his next attack. She shoved him away and her weapon _clanked_ in her fists.

The Thief merely grinned as he was tossed away and spun as he moved, delivering quick, sharp attacks to the Heartless that she had sent after him so that they disappeared in explosions of Darkness. "Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be," Skye said as he landed. He looked over at Ozpin and laughed a few times. "Damn, are you taking it easy?"

The gray haired man shot his student a glare, but nevertheless lashed out faster than usual with his Keyblade and destroying the Heartless that had attacked him all at once. "I was hoping this would have already been resolved," Ozpin stated as he prepared to fight with Salem once more.

"Well, I was only trying to stall you, not _win_ ," Salem pointed out. She looked out at the battlefield. "Watch your students, Oz. Watch as they destroy what little hope you clung to." Ozpin couldn't help himself. He glanced at the battlefield and froze. There were no warriors left, the lives of every member of the Unions that had engaged in the war had been extinguished. Oz could see corpses and Keyblades stretching as far as the eye could see, including four very familiar ones at the center surrounding a Starlight and the body of a single young warrior. Ira, Invi, Gula had laid down their lives in meaningless battle. Even Aced, the traitor, had fallen.

"No..." Skye muttered, staring at the weapons of his fallen friends. He clenched his fist and turned back to Salem. "I'm going to – Where..?" He looked up in worry. In their moment of weakness, Skye and Ozpin had become distracted from their true goal. The complete destruction that had covered the battlefield should have made them realize that Salem's true goal had been freed. And, indeed, she floated above, dangling from the handle of the **χ** -blade. "No!"

"Yes! My Destiny at last!" Salem shouted excitedly. He pulled the regal weapon from its place in the heavens and brought it down to her side. She smiled and dismissed her Keyblade to its home deep in her Heart. The sky, already darkened by the destruction of the Keyblade War that had raged beneath it already for hours, became pitch black. The Light glimmering from Kingdom Hearts seemed to invert, the once black outline of the source of Light becoming pure white and its body inky black pockmarked by white craters. Salem laughed excitedly and aimed the weapon at Ozpin and Skye. "Now, to figure out how this thing works."

Skye jumped up to stop her, bringing the Master Keeper around to slap the **χ** -blade out of her hands. Salem merely sneered as he came, and casually flicked the **χ** -blade with her wrist. The blade of the weapon came down, slamming into the blade of the Master Keeper and sending Skye back at the ground faster than he could respond. Stone shattered beneath him, creating a sizable crater where he had landed. Salem laughed boisterously and slowly lowered herself to stand opposite the slowly recovering Skye. She walked towards him, not even stopping when she slapped him away with her off hand. He cried out in pain even as he crashed through stone and landed in a heap at the center of the crossroads of Keyblades. "Your student cannot stop me. _You_ cannot stop me," Salem said as she neared her true prey. Ozpin snarled and raised his Keyblade defensively in front of him. Salem snickered and used the weapon in her hands to smash through his defense. His Keyblade flew from his hands and tumbled down the cliff. Before he could summon it back, he felt a hand on his throat lift him into the air. The man struggled vainly against the vice strangling the life out of him, his fingers trying to pry Salem's hands open. She shook her head and her grip tightened further, strangling the resistance from his body. "You cannot stop anything." She summoned up an aura of frost around her fingers, and a cloud of Dark Blizzard magic appeared around the pained form of Ozpin. It coagulated after a moment, and soon Ozpin was covered completely in ice. Salem turned and tossed Ozpin after his student.

The frozen Keyblade master could only watch as he soared over the final resting place of four of his students, his eyes frozen open by the force of the spell. "Oz!" He felt an explosion of heat slam into his body, melting the ice that had enveloped him. This was followed closely by a shield of hexagonal light that surrounded him. He turned his gaze to the Keyblade Wielder who had saved him, locking eyes with Skye before his shield hit the ground and shattered from absorbing most of the massive impact. Still, it did not absorb it all and he fell a good foot into the ground. He pushed himself up, hissing in pain and grasping at his now broken ribs.

Skye slid to a stop beside him and looked up at the slowly approaching form of Salem. "I don't like our odds, Oz," he shouted. "She's gone from zero to ass kicker in five seconds flat."

"You know, Oz, I'm not without mercy," the woman said before the man could respond. She slammed the blade of her weapon into the ground and leaned against it. Ozpin noticed with a start that the weapon was just as tall as she was. "Before you die, I'll let you in on a little secret so you can pass on in some semblance of peace."

"Wow, gracious," Skye muttered dryly. He lowered his weapon slightly nonetheless, both he and Ozpin knowing that her droning on would be free time for planning their next avenue of attack.

"I know," she agreed unironically. "You see, Oz and Thief, your friend, the traitor one, he didn't betray you completely of his own volition." She moved to the other side of the **χ** -blade and pulled it from the ground with her left hand, holding it backhand for a moment. "You see, Keyblades have unique abilities to control Hearts, especially ones as strong as the Kingdom Key. I may not have controlled him, but I pushed him to do it. I altered his Heart, for a single moment, and sent him down a path he no longer believed he could escape. At the end, once he had lost himself enough, it was all him. But at first it was all me."

"You monster!" Skye screamed. He was no longer able to control his righteous anger. He rushed the woman and swiped at her head, only for the woman to softly dodge it.

"He was the easiest one to control, nothing like you. He was weak of Heart, jealous and greedy of, well, _you_ ," Salem taunted, not bothering to fight back. She sidestepped the blows of Ozpin's successor and slapped his sword away effortlessly. "You I feel no reason to allow a kind death – You were the reason that I was able to so effortlessly undo their bonds."

"Don't listen to her," Ozpin said, appearing behind Salem in a blur of black lines. He attacked her at the same time as Skye, both of them slashing horizontally at either side of her head. The woman moved even faster, somehow, and their blades crashed into one another instead. The two disengaged immediately and glared over at where Salem now stood still. She flipped her weapon to a forehand grip and smiled. "You trusted them, it is not your fault."

"I know that. They're my friends. They're still at my back no matter what!" Skye shouted. He took a step towards Salem and the woman's grin faltered for a moment. Behind the young man, for a moment, she could see those other students. Ira, Gula, Invi. Even Aced stood at his back, their Keyblades dangling at their sides and serious glares locked on Salem.

 _That... should not be possible_ , Salem muttered internally before the others disappeared. She took a breath and held the **χ** -blade in front of her once again. _It doesn't matter, I was imagining things, or perhaps the_ **χ** _-blade's connection to Kingdom Hearts is... Bah!_

"And you're not alone anyways." A portal of blinding pink Light opened at Skye's side, and a trio of people walked out. Two were children with Keyblades and the other was another familiar face.

"Ila, guys, you shouldn't be here!" Skye shouted worriedly.

"I take it these are your students, Skye," Ozpin noted. He kept his Keyblade locked on Salem so she couldn't attack.

"After... after everything that happened, I needed to do something," Ava said sadly. She clenched her fist and looked over at the center of the battlefield where the others' Keyblades rested, lifeless. She raised her hand and summoned a Keyblade to her side. "Hope you don't mind, but I thought I would borrow this since mine wouldn't be much help."

Skye sighed. "As long as you can come up with a name for it," he said. He gestured at his old Keyblade, then turned his attention to his students. "And you two... You better be careful, or else!" They nodded and Skye nodded happily. He turned to Salem. "Now that _that's_ over, we aren't letting you hold onto that thing for another second."

 _I don't recognize those Keyblades,_ Salem muttered of the weapons in the children's hands as she rushed her opponents. _They don't seem like the one in Skye's hand, they're... natural. How is that possible?_ She slashed down at Skye's head and was surprised when his Keyblade moved faster than she could respond. _How..?!_ She was cut off when it slammed into her face and she was sent flying.

She righted herself a moment later and tried to get her bearings. This was just a minor setback, this could be – She turned when the hair on her neck stood up, and her vision was blacked out by Ozpin's Keyblade slamming into her eyes while coated in flames. She screamed in rage more than pain as she plummeted to the ground. Powerless Keyblades dug into her flesh as she slammed into the ground and slid down the crossroads at the center of the battlefield. She grimaced in pain and tore them out of her body when she finally got to her feet. Her slowly returning eyesight could recognize them as the ones she had made for Ozpin's four other students. Maybe this _wasn't_ just a minor setback. She needed a way to tactically retreat, to escape this battle. The **χ** -blade glowed in her mind, revealing a path out. Time travel! With that, she could –

Ava ran up behind the **χ** -blade wielder and raised her borrowed weapon above her. "Holy!" the younger woman snapped.

"Oh, no," Salem groaned as huge pillars of light began to explode all around her, one after another grinding her willpower down. She had the **χ** -blade and she needed to RUN!? What was happening, it was as if... as if their Hearts had grown stronger with what she had revealed. It was as if the Hearts of all those they had lost now stood with them. Her eyes widened as the final explosion burned at her flesh – it _hadn't_ been her imagination. The Thief really was supported by his friends.

Salem stumbled out of the explosion, clutching at her side. The **χ** -blade dragged through the dirt behind her and her breathing grew increasingly labored. "No, I will not run!" she screamed. She raised the ancient guardian of Kingdom Hearts above her head and aimed it at the moon above. "I'll destroy all of you right here and now!" She summoned a ball of Light and Darkness to the tip of the weapon and laughed maniacally. "I'll destroy _everything!_ "

"Not on our watch!" one of the children shouted. Salem turned on her heel to impale the boy, but his Keyblade slapped her weapon from her hands. Her eyes widened in surprise as the weapon flew through the air. Salem roared in rage and kicked the boy away from her before raising her hand to summon the **χ** -blade back to her grasp.

"I'd rather it be gone, Salem!" Ozpin's Keyblade, glowing and spinning so fast it was just a solid circle of slightly green Light, slammed into the **χ** -blade and it was shattered.

"NO!" Salem screamed. She ran towards the weapon as its blade began to disintegrate, piece by piece. Thirteen spheres of pure Darkness rose slowly from the weapon, drifting towards Kingdom Hearts. Seven gems of the brightest Light next escaped the weapon's form, swirling around the battlefield. One drifted lazily towards Ava even as the others rocketed across the entire globe. It collided with the younger woman's stock still, surprised form and she glowed brightly for a moment. When the glow disappeared, so too had the orb.

Salem roared at the sky in rage, but stopped when she saw that the darkened moon of Kingdom Hearts above had returned to its usual color and was now... disappearing. "Even in victory, Ozpin..." she muttered. She let her gaze fall on him and she grinned. "I wish I could stay, but the odds aren't my favorite right now." She raised her Darkness coated fist and a portal of pure Darkness appeared beside her. "I will travel back, and do this the right way." She turned to make her escape and rewrite the past.

"No! I won't let you escape me again!"

"Oz, stop!" Skye shouted. Salem turned around and her eyes widened when she realized that Ozpin was rushing her, trying to tackle her to the ground. She began to backpedal in the hopes she could escape before he got to her. "Don't fight her alone!"

"I have to stop her!" Ozpin shouted back, his rage filling his eyes behind his green glasses. Salem began to topple backwards when the back of her foot hit the intangible surface of the portal, but it was not soon enough. Ozpin's shoulder hit her chest, and the two of them tumbled into the portal just as Kingdom Hearts above completely receded and a wave of Darkness washed over the entire World.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Cinder was the first of the two to initiate battle, slashing at the Keyblade Wielder with both of her weapons one after another at his head. Her only chance at this battle was keeping this blonde Keyboy off balance. The moment she gave him an opening, he would annihilate her without a single moment of hesitation. It's what she would do after all.

Jaune effortlessly sidestepped her attacks as if they were moving at a snail's pace, his blonde hair trailing as he kept his rage filled eyes locked on Cinder's determined features. Cinder growled at herself. She had been hoping to use her experience with her swords to keep her safe against Jaune in case he decided to unleash some sort of Keyblade magic later on. If he did, her only defense would be her own accrued magic. Playing her hand too soon could be just as bad as playing it too late.

Nevertheless, she was getting nowhere in her fight with the blonde. She slashed one more time at the Keyblade Wielder's head, knowing she would miss. She brought her other hand up, glowing a verdant green, as he slid past her attack. Jaune's eyes widened as he felt the vines explode from the ground to coil around his ankle. He flailed for a moment, his arms and legs flapping about wildly as he tried to regain his balance. It seemed no matter how much he tried, he couldn't completely get rid of the clumsy child inside.

Taking advantage of the opening she had created, Cinder swept both of her weapons at the boy's midsection in hopes of destroying him. This was it! By killing him, she would show she was worth more than him. She would receive his Keyblade and be free of her Destiny... forever. "Nice try," Jaune cut in. He simply took a step back, tearing the vines from the ground as he moved. The magical plants withered away around his leg, torn away from their roots, and he used his Keyblade to slap Cinder's now pointless blows up and away.

Cinder gasped, knowing this was the end. He was going to take this opening to kill – Cinder brought her weapons down, and Jaune just watched disinterestedly. He was playing with her! "What was it like when you killed Pyrrha?" the blonde asked. He didn't move, he didn't even hide the glaring holes in his defense. Every bone in Cinder's body ached to rush forward and exploit them, but she knew in her Heart it would be pointless. He would move faster than she could perceive and just block her every blow, leaving her more tired than before and with nothing to show for it.

Cinder ignored the question and instead tossed an explosive ball of Dark Firaga and her own Fall Maiden flames at the ground, creating a huge explosion and a cloud of Dust she could escape into. If she couldn't hope to match him in a head to head battle, even with a little bit of magic, then she would fight in a way he couldn't understand. Knights fought head on with any enemy that came their way. It was time to behave like an assassin. She faded into the rising smoke, waiting for the best time to attack the blonde.

Jaune didn't respond to the distraction. He continued to stare at where the woman had been a moment before, letting the cloud drift around him. "I want an answer. What was it like when you killed her? She was amazing, so she must have fought back. Gotten a few hits in. _Hurt_ you," he continued speaking, voice cold and level. "So tell me, what did you do?"

"I didn't even try," Cinder growled from within the smoke. She dashed away from where she had been standing before a Blizzard spell froze it solid. "She got hits in, but only because I let her. I pitied her enough for that." That time it was another Firaga that exploded where she had stood, filling the sky with even more smoke.

Cinder continued to move smoothly through the cloud, positioning herself behind the quietly angry blonde. After a few moments, she quietly combined her weapons into a bow and crafted an arrow at the center. She ignited the tip with explosive, Dark fire and snarled before letting it loose at the small of his back. She would cripple him in a harder to defend region, then attack him when he was down. Victory would be hers.

Jaune turned around and _caught_ the arrow with his open hand. "Then I'll do the same to you," He growled. He let the magic contained on the tip of the weapon explode in front of him, and Cinder took a worried step back. The explosion dissipated after a mere moment, and Jaune walked out of it unscathed. He threw the blackened remains of the arrow to his side and took a slow breath. "Now, I'm going to give you one free shot here. I want you to listen close, Cinder Fall."

Cinder growled and raised her blades in front of her defensively. This had to be a trick. "I want you to hit me. As _hard_ as you can," he said, smirking at the woman who had destroyed his life. He gestured at his chin with his open hand. "Now, you might be thinking that you'll give it half. 'That'll be all it takes. He's only human, after all.' Don't. I want nothing less than everything you have. Now."

Cinder took a step back. "Clock is ticking," Jaune growled. He dismissed his Keyblade and held his arms out to his side. "Come on, try me."

"You little..." Cinder growled. Fine, he wanted everything she had, then she would make him regret his hubris. She dropped her swords at her side and raised her hands in front of her. She would use everything she had to destroy him. She would use the power of every Maiden to wipe him from existence! Her hands began to glow, as did her eyes, with the colors of every Maiden's power at once.

Water exploded from the ground in front of her like a geyser, the spout shooting up dozens of feet into the sky and causing rain to tumble down around her. From there, she created a huge tube of vines around the geyser so that the full force of its blow would be directed only at him. Next, she froze the opening of the geyser solid, stopping the water and causing immense pressure to build in the geyser as she continued to summon water. Finally, she began to create a blazing fire within the geyser, increasing the pressure even further until, finally, the ice exploded upward. It flew through the tube at unbelievable speeds, turning with the vines and firing directly at Jaune, followed by a gust of steam and water. "DIE!"

The ice slammed into Jaune a moment later, with enough force to demolish titanium. "There... you're dead, you stupid boy," Cinder growled, panting heavily from the exertion of magic. "You got what you wanted. You're with that girl again."

"Not yet." Cinder's jaw dropped when Jaune shoved the ice off of him and stood up, not a scratch on him. He rubbed his left forearm and shook his head. "You may have bruised my arm with that one. It was better than I thought you could give me."

"H-how did you?" Cinder asked blankly.

Jaune didn't respond, instead summoning his Keyblade again and rushing the woman. She backpedaled, panicking as she realized she couldn't do anything to stop him. She vainly tried to summon a Corridor of Darkness with which she could escape, and nothing appeared.

Jaune slashed overhead at her, barely giving the woman enough time to dodge. "Y-you don't have to do this!" the woman shouted, hating herself for begging now.

Jaune ignored her and swiped again, this time much faster. Cinder tried to dodge again, only for the blade to slam into her arm. Her Aura disappeared from that single blow, and the rest of the force shattered her arm at the elbow. The woman screamed in pain and fell to her knees, only stopping her cries when she felt a cold Keyblade on her chin. It pulled her up to stare into Jaune's eyes, blue and angry. "You're finally going to get what's coming to you," Jaune growled.

Cinder looked over at Salem, quivering with rage when she saw the ancient witch's smug smirk. Cinder wordlessly looked back up at Jaune. This had been... inevitable. Salem had told her she could escape her fate, but... "Do... do you believe in Destiny?" Cinder quietly asked Jaune.

He raised the Keyblade above his head, its tip already glowing with a huge ball of Light energy that would unlock the Keyhole and destroy her. "No," he said simply, then he brought the Keyblade down at her, teeth pointed at the ground and its tip aimed at Cinder's Heart.

 _Jaune..!_

The blonde stopped just before the blade could reach Cinder, though not by his own volition. He felt a pair of slender, strong hands holding his arm back. Someone had stopped him. Jaune took a shaky breath and looked over his right shoulder.

Every molecule of air in his lungs left in a single breath as soon as he did. Standing behind him, holding his arm back to keep him from murdering Cinder Fall in cold blood, was Pyrrha Nikos. Her green eyes were filled with tears and her red hair was loose, a style she had never had in life, but it was her nonetheless. The girl slowly shook her head, her grip on his arm tightening. "Do it now, Jaune," Salem commanded. Pyrrha shook her head slowly.

The blonde breathed in for the first time in what felt like hours to look at Cinder once again. He continued to take in shaky, broken breaths every few seconds as he suddenly found himself at the crossroads of his future. He hated her. He wanted to kill her. It wasn't even that he was being told to do it, he wanted it more than anything. Yet, somehow, he... he didn't... he didn't know what to do. He knew it would be wrong to just murder her right there, for some reason, and he hadn't cared a moment ago. Why did he care now? Why did he suddenly care that, even if Pyrrha came back, she'd hate him?

Cinder stared at him for a moment, then began to laugh cruelly. "Oh. Oh, I see," she said. She laughed again. "Well, isn't that just so typically hypocritical of you Huntsmen."

"W-what?" Jaune asked, shaking his head to clear it.

"You can't kill me, the woman you hate the most, when I'm unarmed and broken in front of you. You can't kill the person who killed the woman you love because, what, it would be wrong to do it like this? To execute me in the service of an ancient evil?" Cinder mocked. She laughed dryly and shook her head. "You claim to have morality, but you ignore its rules whenever you want. You won't kill unarmed people when you hold the blade, but you're more than willing to kill millions of _innocents_ when its a dragon or an army doing the dirty work?"

Jaune's gaze fell to the ground and he shut his eyes. _Oh, God, what did I..? What did I do?_ He wondered, shellshocked. _They'll never forgive me –_ _ **I'd**_ _never forgive me_.

"If you can't kill me, then what are you even doing here?"

Jaune looked down at Cinder. "I..." He looked over his shoulder. Pyrrha was gone, but he still felt like she was there, like her sad, green eyes were locked on him. She had been begging him to stop, to become better. To fix this. But could he? If he couldn't, was there even a point to trying?

 _Jaune._

The blonde let out all the breath stored in his lungs and the Keyblade disappeared from his hand. As if everything in him had just withered away, he tipped backwards and landed on his back with a thud. "That is... disappointing," Salem noted. She walked up to stand beside Jaune, looking down at him. "Ah, but you've done everything else I have asked. You still have a place in my plans." She summoned the Kingdom Key to her hand and spun on her heel, burying the tip of the weapon in Cinder's chest. "You, however, do not." Salem twisted the weapon in her hand and unlocked the Keyhole that rested in the woman.

 _"Cinder!"_ Emerald screamed, jumping forward. Salem looked over at the green haired girl who was drawing her weapons, readying to fire at the ancient witch. "I'll save you."

"Please," Salem muttered sarcastically. She pulled the weapon from Cinder's chest, causing the woman to sputter as the weapon exited her form and tore apart her Heart to unlock the pathway to the Heart of Remnant. Salem raised her Keyblade and launched a Dark Firaga at the green haired girl.

 _Shit_ , Emerald thought as the black energy approached her.

But the blow never landed. Instead, a bubble of solid, hexagonal Light appeared around her. Standing just in front of her, also within the bubble, was Mercury. "Okay, so, that worked better than I thought it would."

"What the hell is this!?" Emerald snapped.

"Talk later, open portal to run away now!" Mercury commanded. Emerald opened her mouth to protest, but Mercury cut her off. "We can't save Cinder, she's already dead. We _can_ save ourselves."

Emerald shut her mouth and nodded begrudgingly. She hated this, but she had seen Cinder get stabbed through the Heart. The green haired thief waved a hand in front of her, and a portal of Darkness opened beneath their feet. The two of them fell through it and the Light Reflect spell disappeared with them.

"Well, it's not as if they mattered," Salem said with a shrug. She watched the portal close and looked over at the dying Cinder, her body beginning to turn into sparks of Light rising towards the shattered moon. "And now, the last shard of Kingdom Hearts will return to its home, just in time for the **χ** -blade to be reborn." Salem knelt beside Cinder and ran a hand through the dying woman's hair as a proud mother would. "You were everything I had ever hoped, Cinder Fall. But it's midnight; time for you to disappear." Salem stood up and backed away, avoiding Cinder's hand that reached out for her to stop, to help.

Salem turned to Jaune, who was now standing and staring at the ground. "Do you have everything you need from Vale?" he asked quietly, his voice defeated and broken.

Salem took a deep breath. She was disappointed, but it mattered little. He had unleashed the destruction of Vale, of millions of innocent lives, knowingly. The guilt would keep him at her side, at least until her plans were completed. No matter what happened, he still belonged to her. "Yes," she said finally.

Jaune turned and sprinted away, summoning a portal of Darkness. "I expect you to return, Jaune."

He slid to a stop in front of the portal and looked at the ground sadly. "I... I have nowhere else," he said quietly. Then he ran through the portal and Salem was left alone.

She looked up into the sky, staring at the Keyhole that now rested across the surface of the moon. She waved the Kingdom Key above her head, locking it for now. The Heartless would seek it out and destroy it, if they could. Her plans demanded that this world remain a little longer, until she had all the Hearts she needed to complete the **χ** -blade. "Do I believe in Destiny?" she asked the nonexistent corpse of Cinder Fall. She smiled as she imagined the weight of the **χ** -blade in her hand once more, the feeling of controlling an entire universe. "I believe in _my_ Destiny."


	34. DISC

_**AN:**_

 _ **Hey, sorry it's been a while. I had tests and then Thanksgiving so I didn't have much time to write anything over the past few weeks. Sadly, I probably won't be able to write one by the end of next week either. Finals and all. But, you never know. Maybe I'll get through it during my breaks from studying. Hopefully, because what happens next chapter is one of my favorite parts in this story. There have been a few questions as to whether things would ever look up for Sora and the others, and that time is next chapter. We're on the upswing now.**_

 _ **Responses!**_

 _ **To gamelover41592: Well, Jaune was never completely gone. Once Salem used the Kingdom Key to alter his Heart in that first moment of betrayal, he was set on a path and he kind of was too afraid to escape it until last chapter. Now it's his guilt holding him back from fully returning to the Light.**_

 _ **To goddragonking: Thanks. I hope I don't screw up the home stretch, because that's always the hardest part of any story.**_

 _ **To ChaosMarauder & Chaos-Guard: Yeah, I maybe watched DBZ Abridged like a good seventy million times while writing the last chapter, so that part was etched a little too deep into my brain. Heh.**_

 _ **To Guest: Yes, I suppose it was a little anti climactic, but Pyrrha saving him is going to be important to the resolution of his character arc in this story so I wanted to set that up a little so it wasn't just out of left field. Um, I am unsure if Jaune is Riku, as the only person I specifically set out with a reborn Heart in mind was Ruby. I don't have any plans to make his Heart's prior owner known, so maybe.**_

 _ **To warrior of Six Blades: Yeah, I came up with it because it was the only reason I could see for Jaune really ever going full Dark for the first time. The guy wears a Rabbit sweatshirt for Pumpkin Pete's sake! Sure he has Darkness in him, but I don't get the feeling that he'd ever let it control him fully. Don't worry: Jaune's already starting to see the Light so his father and the others are definitely going to be able to smack the last bits of sense into the guy's head.**_

 _ **To Kingofclubs8129: Yeah... I love Cinder too, but sadly this is it. Her Heart wasn't consumed by Darkness like it would need to be for a Nobody and Heartless to be created, it was shattered completely. She's gone. I'd considered having it be different and didn't totally decide until I wrote the chapter, but I chose this for a few reasons. First, Death kind of loses its meaning when everyone comes back, even the villains. Second, I felt like the only way I could go for her now was a redemption arc, and I wouldn't want to do that. This Cinder was a bit of an ode to her Vol 1-3 character. Pure, unadulterated villain. Now that she's lying to Salem and not completely killing Ozpin, she's different, and I'd rather just watch to see what Rooster Teeth has planned because it'll be great!**_

 _ **Chapter 34: DISC**_

Vale was bustling, busy as it was on any day of the week. The new Beacon Academy was out of class for a long weekend. The Council wanted the Huntsmen in Training around the city in order to keep the people calm. They hoped the presence of extra warriors visible among the populace would help counteract the uneasy feelings that still existed following the battle days prior in Vale's central square. The power that had been unleashed had terrified the entire populace, with every explosion rattling buildings blocks away and the final, impossible beam of Darkness that shot into the sky making them feel that there was nothing anyone could do to protect them. That it had not happened in the intervening days was the only comfort they could take. Either this enemy was defeated or had retreated, though the tension still remained.

Sora yawned and leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers at the base of his head. He hadn't slept very well the night before, worried as he for Ruby. Breaking into Blue Fairy would be no joke, especially with Salem's lackeys out there and Jaune still not sure who he really was. Sora leaned forward when he finished yawning and looked out the window at the giant Scroll mantled on the side of a tall building. Some advertisement for Schnee Corp and its uncountably many subsidiaries was playing out on it, listing the advancements in Dust manipulation that had been created over the past year by their scientists. Sora couldn't hold in another yawn as the voice coming from the Scroll continued droning on.

"I see you are being quite productive today." Sora stretched his arm across his body and peered over his shoulder. Ozpin was standing just behind him, staring out the window as well, though his eyes were locked on Beacon tower.

"Eh, not anything we can do until we hear from Qrow and Ruby," Sora pointed out as he switched to stretch his other arm across his chest. He jumped out of his chair and leaned his back against the window. "What have you been doing?"

"Planning our next move. Trying to find Salem. Much of Remnant is still unmapped even to this day," Ozpin explained with a frown. "The Grimm prevent most attempts to travel too far from the cities, to say nothing of Salem's own abilities."

"How hard can it be to find the only place in the world that always has a night sky?" Sora asked dryly.

"Considering she can shape the world around her with her Darkness, obscure it and hide it? Incredibly." Ozpin glanced at the ground. "I am... sorry, for what happened with Mister Arc."

Sora smiled and shook his head. "He isn't thinking straight," Sora said.

Ozpin glanced at the ground. "Perhaps..." he said, thinking back to what Salem had done to Aced all those centuries ago. "Still, I am sorry. If I had done a better job training you thus far, you would have summoned the Master Keeper. You could have kept the Journal – your reminder of your friends – if... if only I was better."

"Oh, chin up, Oz," Sora said, walking over and slapping the man on the back. Ozpin glared over at Sora, who began to grin wide. He walked over to the window and threw it open so he could lean out and look out into the world again. "Come on, let's -"

He was cut off when the world around them began to shake suddenly, the building trembling beneath their feet. Sora yelped and lost his balance, tipping out of the window. "Sora!" Ozpin shouted, rushing to the opening to try and stop the young man's fall.

"I'm okay!" the young man shouted back. He was halfway down the building, his blade buried in its surface. "Meet me down there." Sora looked down and concentrated hard, a magenta surge of energy flying from his palm. He tore Fenrir from the building's wall and began to free fall until he kicked the wall and flipped away, landing lightly in a windowsill across the street. He held his hand out and grabbed onto the gutter at the corner of the building and slid down it to reach the ground safely in just a few seconds. "Okay, that was pretty easy." Then another tremor hit and Sora fell on his face. "Dammit..."

"Sora, you fell out of a building? Are you trying to beat Jaune for 'Clumsiest Swordsman?'" Nora snorted as she ran through the front door of the building with Ozpin, Ren, Blake, and Sun. They came to a stop beside the young man, Ren and Sun leaning down to pull him up to his feet.

"There are more important things to focus on, Nora," Ren pointed out. He looked over at Nora and smiled fondly at a memory. "Though if he is, he should try more than a little harder than that."

Another tremor hit before she could respond and a scream of panic rose from the crowds around them. Nora caught Ren when he started to tip over and flashed him a flirty smile, while Sora made sure he kept his footing beside the stony Ozpin and incredibly dexterous Faunus duo. "Okay, is Vale famous for earthquakes and none of you told me?" Sora asked, hoping that was it.

"No, Vale is not known for any type of seismic activity," Ozpin whispered, his voice hoarse and terrified. He looked into the distance and shook his head. _We have to get to the tunnels._

"Hello, People of Vale. My name is Jacques Schnee." The entire city went quiet, the result of a large face with a very loud voice speaking directly to each and every one of them.

"Oh, perfect..." Ozpin mumbled before looking up at the Scroll above them, where a far too large image of the Schnee Corporation's CEO was staring down at an entire city. Other Scrolls across the city began to suffer the same fate, he noticed, when he pulled out his own Scroll to call Qrow. With a growl he activated the secure line on the machine and Schnee's face cut out in his hand, though it remained everywhere else.

"You have probably been wondering what is happening and why your home is currently experiencing earthquakes. The more astute among you would also likely want to know why the quakes are getting stronger. Simply put, that would be because of me. It is a device known as DISC that is capable of causing massive seismic waves and igniting the entirety of the Dust deposits beneath your city." Jacques stopped speaking and bit his cheek. The man shut his eyes and took a long, slow breath before finally continuing. "Approximately four days ago, a battle occurred within the city limits of Vale. The consequences of this duel were visible even all the way in Atlas, and resulted in a release of concentrated energy greater than any we have recorded since the weapons unleashed during the Great War eighty years ago. The energy release was harmless, to humans and Faunus at least. Instead, as I learned shortly thereafter, it had far worse effect. The Dragon that attacked Beacon is no longer sleeping."

"What!?" Ozpins shouted.

"Did... Did Jaune know?" Ren asked hollowly.

Sun snarled. "That idiot!"

 _Did he know?_ Sora wondered.

"I am not doing this for the safety of the world, however. That is the only reason that the Atlesian Council agreed to my plans, but I enacted it for one reason alone: I would do _anything_ to protect my family." Schnee shut his eyes and shook his head. "This will weigh upon my conscience forever, because I have just discovered I am willing to trade a thousand lives for those of my children and wife. I believe many of you can understand that."

Ozpin shook his head and looked at the ground. "Jacques..." he grumbled. He twisted his hand when his Scroll suddenly began to ring loudly, Qrow's face appearing on the center of the screen.

Ozpin answered the call and lifted it to his ear. "Oz! Oz, DISC wasn't in Blue Fairy!"

"I am aware," Ozpin muttered on the other side of the line. The ancient warrior stared up at the image of Jacques Schnee on a huge Scroll screen at the center of Vale.

"... is why I am telling you that this is not the way I wanted this to end. But with the Dragon on Beacon waking up, we have little choice. Either we destroy it and Vale in the process now, or we risk all of Remnant." He wearily ran his fingers down his mustache and chin. "I hope this will give you the time you need to make peace." Then the screen went black and the tremors started, followed immediately by panicked screaming and rioting. Sora glanced into the crowd and was relieved to see that the Huntsmen and Trainees in the crowd were busy trying to maintain peace. Most of them, at least.

"I am all _too_ aware," Ozpin said before turning towards Sora and the others who stood with him. "We will call you when this is over, or..."

Qrow was quiet for a while, the only noise the static resulting from Vale's tower shaking because of the Earthquake. "You guys better live or I'm killing you."

Ozpin nodded. "... Goodbye, Qrow. It's been an honor."

The ancient warrior pocketed the blade and frowned. "We need to get to Beacon Academy. Now. It's our only chance to stop this," he told the young warriors. He looked up at the cliff atop which his school sat, no longer the symbol of hope it had once been.

"And how are we going to get to the top of the cliffs fast enough? By foot, it could take days!"

Ozpin smiled down at Blake, who had asked the question. "I at least was smart enough to prepare for this possibility, Miss Belladonna," he said to the young woman. He raised his Scroll in front of him. "We just need to speak with one of your more... strict professors."

Half an hour later, the group was huddled together in the cramped back of a bullhead. "I'm sure that you could have set this up on your own, Ozpin," Glynda Goodwitch stated simply, her eyes locked on the older man's.

"Can I not enjoy the company of friends in times of danger, Glynda?" he inquired dryly from where he stood beside her.

"Focus," Glynda growled. "This is no time for you to be making jokes."

"Indeed, but it would seem spending time around Sora is starting to have an effect on me," Ozpin admitted with a shrug. He clenched the handle of the cane and looked around at the young warriors who were busy checking their equipment. "It was not completely a joke, Glynda. I appreciate your council in times such as this."

Goodwitch smiled and placed her hand on Ozpin's shoulder. "Thank you, Ozpin... If you only listened to it more often."

Ozpin smiled. "I thought you said this was no time for jokes."

"I said it was no time for _you_ to be making jokes," Glynda repeated simply.

"Where are we heading, Oz?" Sora asked the professor.

Ozpin looked over and nodded. "I suppose I should explain before we arrive," he acknowledged. "The entrance to the tunnels is only accessible from the one place I was sure no one would ever go exploring at the school."

"Professor Port's office?" Nora suggested earnestly.

"The basement, obviously," Ren corrected his partner.

"We had a basement!?" Nora shouted, nearly deafening everyone in the air ship. The pilot was even disturbed, with the ship veering sharply to the left when her scream rang out.

"Obviously," Blake said, her voice barely betraying her _intense_ annoyance with how the ship was continuing to sway violently from side to side as the pilot tried to regain balance. "The school's at the top of a cliff over a hundred feet tall and we know already know there's a vault beneath the school. It stands to reason there was more than just one machine resting down there."

"Oh... then why didn't you just call it the vault, _Ren!?_ " Nora shouted in mock annoyance. She smacked the back of his head playfully. However, given her intense strength, even a playful rap still ended up leaving a bruise across his scalp.

"She, uh, she's got a point," Sun admitted.

"How do we get there then?" Sora asked, grimacing as he watched his friend start to bleed profusely from where Nora had hit him.

Sun tossed the former Keyblade Wielder a dry glance. "Why do you even bother asking at this point?"

Sora laughed and shook his head. "Where the Dragon is?" Sora supplied.

"Duh!" Nora noted, raising her hands suddenly and accidentally smacking the back of Ren's head again. He fell face forward and Sora cautiously raised Fenrir to cast a Cure on the ninja.

"Well, it's not like it's the first dragon I've killed on Remnant," Sora said with a shrug while Ren began to heal.

"That _was_ pretty cool," Sun said as he thought back to Ruby and Sora bisecting the huge monster with a pair of Keyblades. "Wish I could do that..."

"Oh, but then you wouldn't need my help." Blake patted the monkey Faunus on the back.

"Yeah..." He looked up at her in surprise. "Wait, was that a hint of obvious flirting?!"

The ship veered to the side once more, with the ship's pilot snapping a few choice curses as it did. "What the hell is this stuff?" The ship veered wildly again. "I can't keep dodging these... meteors!We've got to set down."

"What the hell is... what!?" Sora snapped as the door to the bullhead's bay began to slide open. Falling from the now pitch black sky were huge blocks of odd, multicolored matter. It seemed to be like gelatin, with yellows and blues that seemed to melt as the air hit it. Despite that, the material still seemed incredibly dense and solid, as evidenced by how it was so easily shattering the ground. The crystalline spires of the material were coming out of thick, black stones that glittered quietly in the light of day. There was no mistaking this incredibly unique material, not for Sora. "Gummi blocks..?" The only time he had ever seen Gummi blocks appear in this form had been in the End of the World back in his first adventure or the Realm of Darkness later, which could only mean one thing.

"She's used the Journal," Ozpin finished for Sora's mind.

Sora activated Fenrir and began to sprint towards the door, backflipping out of the ship with the belief the others would be right behind him. He gasped as he tumbled through the air towards the ground dozens of feet below; the tremors were way worse over here than in the city itself. The Gummi blocks falling from the sky were shattering the ground beneath the Grimm's feet, sending groups of the creatures either tumbling into the rocky interior of the cliffs, or forcing the ground to explode from the pressure and sending them into the air. Sora spun midair as a Beowolf flew towards him, its claws extended, and used Fenrir to slice cleanly through the incoming attack. He continued spinning when he passed the creature and it began to fall above him, slashing through its chest and neck until it disappeared in a burst of black Dust. Sora turned back to the ground and aimed Fenrir directly at the ground. "Fire!" An ball of flames erupted from the tip of the blade, hitting the ground. A dozen Grimm shrieked and disappeared in the resultant explosion. Th Firaga that hit the ground sent a bubble of hot air upwards and Sora's descent was slowed. He landed, a little harder than a normal person could take, and ran immediately into battle.

"He's certainly... back to normal," Glynda noted as they watched Sora continue.

"Seriously, I need to set down or we're going to die. All of us!" the pilot shouted. The bullhead even swerved out of another huge Gummi block's path to emphasize the point. This was not enough to save them, however, as another meteor came out of practically nowhere and sliced right through the wing.

Ozpin and Glynda reacted almost instantaneously, with the two of them grabbing the less experienced warriors and pulling them from the bullhead. The younger warriors were tossed into open air to perform their own landing strategies. Ozpin and Glynda wordlessly moved smoothly together, Glynda jumping out of the ship after the others while Ozpin hastily collected the pilot and followed her, barely a second behind.

Glynda reached out with her Semblance, her Aura enveloping the large hunk of burning metal, then spun mid air and flicked her riding crop towards the center of a large group of Grimm coming for Sora. The metal streaked through the sky, another burning meteor, and slammed into the ocean of black and white masks. The Grimm never stood a chance at survival and were vaporized long before they could hope to over run the young man's position.

Meanwhile, the warriors in training – Glynda reminded herself that, perhaps, their training had ended long ago – were easily responding to the change in circumstance. Blake had been attacked by a rather large Nevermore upon beginning her fall, and had nearly been snapped in half by its huge beak. She had responded quickly, however, using her Semblance and some magic to dodge the blow and land safely on the creature's back. The shadow she had left behind exploded in a burst of Dark energy, leaving the creature headless. The Faunus girl wordlessly wrapped her ribbon around the throat of a Nevermore and began riding its decaying body to the ground. Of the children, she was the only one capable of utilizing Darkness, a fact that Sora had found entertaining despite Ozpin's worries, claiming it made her 'seem even more like Riku.' Sun meanwhile was jumping from one glowing, ethereal copy to another so he could slow his momentum, the copy of Light falling to the ground beneath him and taking a dozen Grimm each with them when they exploded. He landed with a wide grin and caught Blake as she plummeted the last dozen feet through the nonexistent body of the creature she had killed. "Hi," he told the girl.

Ren was acrobatically jumping from Grimm to Grimm, wrapping Stormflower's blades around the throats of Gryphons and decapitating them as he swung to attack the next creature. He fired off a volley of Confusion laced bullets at a larger one and ran along its back, jumping off when the creature angled down sharply and began clawing at its bretheren. Nora, meanwhile, had elected to simply scream in joy and drop straight towards the ground with her hammer out. She hit the ground almost hard as the meteors and quickly began racking up a kill count to rival Sora's already impressive numbers.

Glynda and Ozpin landed beside each other at nearly the same time on a branch of a tall tree. The older man was holding the pilot over his shoulder and gingerly placed the man over the wood upon which they crouched. "Stay here, the foliage should protect you from the flying creatures and the height from those upon the ground. For now," Ozpin told him. The pilot nodded dumbly, which Ozpin and Glynda took as a good sign before jumping from the tree to regroup with the others.

Sora had watched the entire event out of the corner of his eye, certain that Glynda and Ozpin would be able to figure it out. Still, the Magnega he had been holding on the tip of Fenrir to stop the Bullhead from falling before they could rescue themselves dissipated and he returned to lengthening his lead over Nora. "Children!" Glynda shouted a moment later over the sounds of battle, the growing rumbling of the earth beneath their feet, and the echoing booms of Gummi colliding with stone. There was a burst of energy from where she stood, and the Grimm surrounding her and Ozpin were thrown away. "We are running short on time!"

Sora nodded and sprinted towards her, slashing at the Grimm that got too close as he ran. The others converged with him and they all slid to a stop around Ozpin and Glynda. "Good, now..." The woman raised her riding crop and flicked it across her chest. The ground beneath them creaked and groaned for a moment before slowly rising. "Hold on tight." Sora barely had time to jam Fenrir into the stone beneath his feet before the stone flew at break neck speed towards the school under the control of Glynda's Semblance.

"Maybe we're going a little fast!" Ren shouted, though it was drowned out by the whistling wind.

Sora yelped when his feet lost their grip on the stone and he was suddenly being dragged along by his sword. "Woo hoo!"

Nora was in the same position, though she was laughing even harder than the former Keyblade Wielder. Ren sighed and kept hold of the stone as best he could, only back flipping off of it when they were inside the ruined atrium of Beacon Tower.

He landed and immediately noticed something was wrong. The ground beneath his feet was nowhere near as hard as it should have been, and he could feel his own Aura slowly but steadily decreasing with every moment. He was the first to understand, and was incredibly worried when he did. "Professor, no one is going to survive going down there!" he shouted as the others dismounted the stone that had crashed into the wall.

Blake was the next person to put it together. "The DISC's vibrations in the cavern below the school are intense enough our Auras can't keep even us safe here, at the closest point above ground." She looked over at the somber Headmaster. "Going down there would be suicide."

"Ozpin, did you know?" Glynda asked, her voice burning with anger.

"I did not believe DISC would activate this quickly," Ozpin muttered in denial. He shook his head. "I doubt the person who heads down now will survive."

"If you can even make it to the machine," Glynda snapped. She grabbed the headmaster's sleeve and shook her head. "This is suicide, and it won't help anything!"

"It might," Ozpin responded.

"Guys..." Sun said as he stared at the empty elevator shaft.

"Shh, Mister Wukong," Glynda growled, cowing the Faunus. She returned her attention to Ozpin. "Our efforts would be better serviced evacuating the city and destroying the Grimm here to prevent further deaths. You cannot throw your life away simply because you are tired of how long it has become."

"Hm, Professors," Ren tried to interrupt, though he simply received the same angry glare from Ozpin and Goodwitch.

"PROFESSORS!" Nora screamed, finally breaking through.

"What!?" they shouted in tandem, spinning around and catching sight of what the young warriors were talking about. Sora was standing on the lip of the elevator shaft staring down it. He turned around and smiled. Ozpin took a few shallow breaths. "Sora, what are you doing?"

"Well, none of you guys could get close to DISC, right?" he asked with a sunny grin. "Seems to me that all I need to do is summon a Keyblade and I'll be able to do it without a problem."

"Sora, this is not the time to tempt fate," Goodwitch warned. She took a step towards Sora in the hope of stopping him.

"You're right," Sora admitted with a shrug. "But if I have a chance at this, I'm going to try."

"Sora don't -" Ozpin was cut off when he realized how quiet it had become. The Grimm were not attacking them. He looked up slowly as the building around them began to creak and groan. The Gummi had stopped falling, and the DISC vibrations had begun to vibrate at a more specific frequency designed to ignite the caverns of DUST underground rather than cause earthquakes. So what was causing the building to move around them?

A huge stone slab crashed to the ground between Sora and Ozpin and the former Keyblade Wielder glanced up for a moment before looking back down. "Can you guys handle this?" he asked worriedly.

Ozpin continued to stare at the dragon as it began to move, shaking off its years long sleep and turning its eye on the warriors below it. "We have to," Blake said quietly.

Ozpin knew she was right. He looked back down at Sora and realized that they had no choice. Ozpin slowly nodded. "Go." The brown haired boy grinned and jumped backwards into the elevator shaft just before the dragon shook once more and the stone covered the shaft, separating Sora from the others.

"You said you wanted to try to kill a dragon," Blake remarked dryly.

"It suddenly doesn't sound so fun..." Sun groaned as the creature leaped from the top of the school and landed with a thundering crash in the main square of Beacon Academy. The warriors turned to watch it fall, the Grimm leaking from its flesh and the others beginning to lumber towards them. "Nowhere near as fun." Then the Dragon roared, its massive jaw partially unhinging to communicate the full force of the scream. The warriors felt themselves slide back a few inches from the force of its breath. Soon the other Grimm roared and charged the Huntsmen.

"I think it sounds like a lot of fun!" Nora shouted as she hefted her hammer over her shoulders.

"I must admit, I am intrigued as well," Ren said, readying for the upcoming battle as well. "At the very least, we will make that creature wish it had never attacked Beacon Academy."

"Sounds like a fine endeavor," Ozpin said. He looked over at Glynda and smiled softly. "Another fight sound good, Old Friend?"

Glynda glared at him for a moment before sighing and raising her riding crop in front of her. "I bet I can kill more than you, Ozpin."

The headmaster smiled softly. "I doubt that."

 _ **R W B Y**_

 _? ? ?_

Ozpin groaned as he slowly felt consciousness return to him, accompanied by a bright light that turned the entire world behind his eyelids a dull red. He pushed himself up and groaned when the blood suddenly all rushed from his head. He opened his eyes to tunneling vision that caught a pair of tan clad legs sprinting through a doorway of many different shades of brown. Ozpin shook his head and looked around. He saw his black coat was folded neatly on a table with the green-black blazer that completed his ordinary outfit resting beside it.

Ozpin looked down at the green scarf that was still tied around his neck with the broach placed at the center. He had worn it every day since he'd met Salem, and now... Honestly, he wasn't sure if she was alive. If _he_ was even alive. He looked around the room once more, catching sight of the heart shaped imagery that covered the walls and the gold filigree that outlined the windows.

He stumbled to his feet and felt his vision begin to tunnel again, but after a moment it cleared up and he was able to walk normally to the table to collect his blazer. He slid it on and buttoned it before reaching out to grab the coat. His hand froze just a few inches above it. With the **χ** -blade gone, it felt as if the coat belonged to a different man. His hand retreated from the special fabric and he turned to walk out the door and find someone with whom he could speak.

He took a right on a whim and walked down the hallway, almost immediately entering into a wide open room. A large, green crystal of some sort was floating in the center of the open space, glittering in the light that the huge windows cast on it. A series of gold rings spun around the gem, drawing a field of energy from within it that flickered as Ozpin approached. He watched it spin for a moment before turning his attention to the large door on the other side of the room and the shrine that was mounted above it.

Ozpin felt a smile slowly drift across his features. Skye had somehow found him! There it was, plain as day, the first Keyblade that Ozpin had bestowed upon his first student, the ram's head staring out from amidst a series of golden key facades that swarmed together in different arcs. When the door began to open beneath it, Ozpin turned his smile on the warrior entering the room. "Skye, it's so good –" Ozpin summoned his Keyblade and raised it in front of him when not Skye, but a tall man in blue robes walked out, an oddly shaped beard of graying black trailing to the center of his chest. As soon as he saw the Keyblade in Ozpin's hand, he entered a battle stance as well and summoned up a Keyblade. Ozpin growled and took a step back. "Who are you? Where did you get the Master Keeper? Where is Skye?"

"I believe I should be the one asking the questions," the old man said, his baritone voice echoing through the room. "After all, it was my student and I who found and saved you. Though we had no clue you were a Keyblade Wielder; I was unaware anyone else trained our kind."

Ozpin narrowed his eyes on the man, then glanced down when a young man with dark skin and black hair ran through after him. "Master, what's going on?"

"Eraqus, back to your room," the man commanded, not moving at all from his fighting stance.

"But Master Yen Sid -"

"Now!" the old man snapped, immediately cowing the young man and sending him running off. The man shook his head when Eraqus finally was gone. With a sigh, he lowered his weapon. "Children..."

Ozpin did not lower his weapon. "Yes, a trial I understand all too well," Ozpin admitted. He redoubled his grip on Sting. "Now who are you?"

Yen Sid grunted in annoyance. "Persistent, aren't you?" he grumbled. The old man sighed and nodded. "A trade, perhaps? I will even go first." He held his hand straight out in front of him and dismissed the Master Keeper as a sign of faith. "You don't seem the Dark type."

Ozpin said nothing, but nevertheless dismissed his weapon and stood up straight. "Who are you?" he repeated resolutely.

Yen Sid scoffed and shook his head, but answered regardless. "Yen Sid, Master of the Keyblade and Master of this... School, I suppose."

"So he's your only student?"

"I believe it is my turn," Yen Sid noted with a twinkle in his eye. Ozpin hissed, but eventually gave the other man the go ahead. "Good. Who are you?"

"Original," Ozpin noted, earning a laugh from the man with the Master Keeper. "I am Ozpin, Keyblade Master." He looked up at the Keyblade above the doorway. "I trained the man who used _that_."

Yen Sid's eyes widened when he followed Ozpin's gaze. "That is... impossible," he noted, moving his gaze down to meet Ozpin's. "That Keyblade is the oldest ever forged. It has been passed down for... generations from Master to Master. Just like my Keyblade."

Ozpin glanced down. Salem had claimed she was going to travel back, do things 'the right way.' Had she been serious? Had she found a way to travel through time? That didn't make sense though; given how Yen Sid was talking, she had sent him tumbling forward instead of back. Well, the world of Keyblades often made things very confusing. Therefore, the simplest answer in this case was likely the right one. Time travel... Ozpin hoped he would not have to memorize the paradoxical rules that went along with this. "Nonetheless, I did train him. For decades..." Ozpin smiled sadly. "I suppose this means that he and Av – Ila at least made it out alive."

"Skye and Ila? I am afraid I do not know these names," Yen Sid explained. He placed his hand on his chin. "Where are you from? What World?"

Ozpin nodded. "You would not know it. If this is the future, then the Keyblade War shattered it long ago." Ozpin walked over to the doorway and looked up at the weapon above it. He sighed, "Daybreak Town is long gone by now. I wonder what of it remains?"

"You have my condolences," the other man said from behind Oz.

"Hm..." He shook his head and turned around. He could not think on that pain. He may have lost everyone he cared about, but for now the more important problem at hand was that if he had survived it was very likely that Salem had survived as well. If he didn't find her, it was likely she would find a way to jump back in time to secure her victory over Ozpin and Skye. "I thank you for your aid, but I must leave. I have an enemy that I must find..." He began to return to the room where his Black Coat was folded so he could grab it and begin his hunt.

"Unfortunately, I can't allow that. You may heal quickly, even for a Keyblade Master, but you are not well. You can barely stand, can you?" Yen Sid responded, stepping into Ozpin's path.

"That is not the case!" Ozpin retorted, stepping forcefully towards Yen Sid. It only took two purpose filled steps before he was toppling face first to the ground. He was stopped by one of Yen Sid's hands grabbing his jacket at the middle of his back.

"I have a feeling we were guided to one another. There are many things you need to learn about the Worlds, Ozpin, before you go into them, and many things that you will need to even travel. I will help you, but you must recover. Do we have an areement?"

Ozpin sighed and allowed himself to be lifted to his feet. "If I have no choice, then I have no choice. I agree."

 _...Elsewhere..._

Salem stood in the shadows, ignoring the constant pain that was coursing through her left arm. Oz's interference in her Time Portal had done something terrible to her, weakening her and shattering her body. She could only hope that the same happened to him. Or maybe he had died. That would have been a nice improvement. She took a moment to glance down at her arm, which was in the process of completely deteriorating. If someone saw only her liver spotted hand, they would assume she was incredibly old. And it was spreading.

She shook off the concern and returned her attention to the spot on the sand once more. The young man who looked just like Aliux had disappeared from the shore line in a flash of Light, leaving behind someone in a brown burlap coat and no physical form. Once the young man had disappeared, the creature had leveled its gaze on where she was hiding for a full minute before disappearing in a flash of Darkness. What an odd creature, all things considered. She clenched her good fist and waited. She recognized the portal he had created as a time travel doorway, and from the feeling she got when the brown clad being had glared at her, the young man with white hair was due to return eventually.

Speaking of which, the setting sun was blocked out from Salem's field of vision when a swirling vortex of Darkness suddenly appeared. There was a loud shout of surprise as the boy was thrown from the portal followed closely by a concussive wave of Nothingness – a force she had learned of from the **χ** -blade – that sent him flying across the beach. The boy tumbled through the sand and lay still beneath the bridge leading to another, smaller island. Salem returned her attention to the portal for a moment and watched the wave of incredibly powerful Nothingness force the portal to collapse in on itself. Salem bit the inside of her cheek and frowned for a moment, but quickly shook it off and walked towards the boy.

She crouched next to his unconscious form. From what she had observed, this World was one of many that had been created from the destruction of the **χ** -blade in her fight with Ozpin, and this boy wanted to see them all. She scoffed. This separation had bred a hunger in the hearts of many denizens of the different worlds, a desire to become complete: their own Hearts echoed the hunger the Hearts of their homes now felt. The Light had tried to save itself by spreading out, making it harder for the Darkness to destroy it all, and in turn had created even more Darkness. "Wake up," she commanded. She nudged the boy's shoulder and growled. "Wake up." She slapped his shoulder and stood up slowly. He still would not awaken. She decided instead to study the boy.

He looked exactly like a younger Aliux, with his long white hair and deeply tanned skin. He even had the same arrogant look on his face despite being unconscious and slightly wounded. Far more interesting, however, was that he held the power of an awakened Keyblade in his Heart, a trait that he had not had before his trip through time. She took a step away from the boy and flicked her wrist, summoning the Kingdom Key to her right hand in a flash of light. "Wake up," she demanded once more, this time placing the weapon above the young man's head and sending a small shower of electric sparks raining down on his body. The white haired boy yelped in pain and was torn from unconsciousness a moment later.

"Wha? Where am I?" he shouted, looking around in confusion. He shook his head. "Home... but...? I feel like I've forgotten something important..." He looked up at Salem and his eyes widened. He scrabbled backwards across the beach, surprised by her appearance, and raised one hand above him defensively. "Who are you?"

Salem threw the tip of her Keyblade into the ground and advanced on him. "I am Salem. Your name, boy?"

The boy glanced down before lowering his hand. He pushed himself to his feet and suddenly grew far more arrogant, his gaze locking with disgust on the Kingdom Key. "I am Xehanort," he said with a smirk. He frowned and examined the Keyblade closer. "What is that thing?"

Salem cocked her head to the side. How would he not know? Eventually, she smiled to herself. This could be very useful, very useful indeed. Whatever had happened to her following her own trip though time, or perhaps the destruction of the World that was, had prevented her from opening any portals back in time. This meant her only chance at securing the **χ** -blade was to reforge it in this time, or rather to create an acolyte who could do it for her. That would distract from her presence in this time at the very least, especially if Ozpin had survived the trip as well. "It's a way for you to get off this world forever. That's what you want, isn't it?"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora plummeted straight down the center of the elevator shaft, occasionally launching firagas behind him to increase his speed. He had to get to DISC as soon as possible, which meant he had to go fast enough that hitting the ground at that speed would leave him flat as a pancake, if he didn't correctly time his attempt to slow down. Eh, he'd be fine. He held Fenrir out in front of him and shot a Sparks spell out in front of him to light his path. He still had a little ways to go before he was close enough to the ground for him to slow down, so he just kept falling.

Sora grunted in surprise when a cold, Dark hand wrapped around his ankle and he was brought to a sudden stop. He looked up and was greeted by the gleaming yellow eyes of a Heartless. The creature chittered for a moment, then pulled hard. Sora slashed wildly at the creature to try to escape its grip, only for the blow to go wide. Sora tried to attack again, but was pulled through the Heartless' portal of Darkness before he could do anything.

It was like drowning, moving through the inky Darkness. It pressed upon him from all sides, its pressure building ever greater. He was sure that, if he stayed too long, he would die from exposure alone. The claw around his leg did not let go, however, and he was soon thrown out of the corridor and into the air. He gasped when he could finally breathe again, only for the air to be immediately crushed from his chest when he crashed against the wall. "Ugh, Heartless," Sora growled. He pushed himself up and grimaced when pain ran down his arm. A quick cast of Cure healed him and illuminated the room around him. Large lights dangled from a ceiling far above and the room showed signs of a serious battle. He looked over his shoulder and caught sight of the mangled remains of a machine. "Well, at least it let me go down h -" He fell to his knees. It felt like all of his internal organs were rumbling inside him.

Sora pushed himself back up to his feet. He didn't have time to worry about DISC slowly killing him, though he would definitely get back to concentrating on that when he could. Sora would just have to hold himself together until he could find and deactivate the weapon. Sora raised his weapon above his head and called down a storm of Thunder. The energy rained down from the ceiling, crashing into the lights and supercharging them with magical energy. They glowed bright, illuminating the entire vault with brilliant yellow light, and exposing the Dark bodies of a dozen emblem Heartless, returned courtesy of the reborn Realm of Darkness. Sora gritted his teeth and ran towards the Heartless with blade raised above his shoulder.

He slashed down at the first Soldier that attacked, the blow colliding with its spinning helmet to stun it. He slashed horizontally through its body before it could recover, and the Heartless exploded in a sudden burst of Darkness. Sora continued rushing the other creatures, sliding beneath a the swooping attack of an Air Soldier and clipping one of its leathery wings as he came to his feet. The Heartless crashed to the ground and Sora turned instead to a different one, using Fenrir to deflect a heavy sword strike from a spiny, gray Armored Knight. He bathed Fenrir in a coat of Thunder and slashed through the creature's armor like butter, destroying it effortlessly. A small trio of soldiers rushed him next, and Sora fired off a volley of Blizzard spells to freeze them solid. He turned around when he saw a barely visible sihlouette appear at the corner of his vision and try to get around him. He jumped out of the path of the next attack, allowing the Heartless' blow to demolish the frozen Soldiers. Sora came to his feet while simultaneously decapitating the Air Soldier he had clipped earlier. He looked back at the creature that had just attacked him and saw the Stealth Sneak – a giant chameleon Heartless – turn visible once more.

It disappeared a moment later and jumped away. Sora tried to track it, only to be attacked by another Air Soldier and a quartet of Gargoyles, the leathery creature dive bombing him while the purple Gargoyles moved to surround him and attack from all sides. Sora rolled beneath the Air Soldier's attack and came to his feet behind it, ready to destroy it. He was thrown off when a pair of sharp, purple wings slammed into his back and sent him tumbling forward through the air. He snarled in surprise and righted himself mid air, slashing as he did at the Gargoyle in front of him. It nimbly dodged the attack and, with both claws, slammed Sora towards the ground.

He hit it with a heavy thud only made worse by another wave rumbling through the ground and shaking his bones. Sora hissed and pushed himself up to his knees, failing when he first tried to move to his feet. He used Fenrir to deflect another blow from a Gargoyle and finally managed to reach his feet. He ran towards the Air Soldier, making sure to keep track of all the Gargoyles as he did. His diligence paid off, and he dodged the many blows of the Heartless as he approached the Air Soldier, managing to sidestep a swipe of its claws and bury Fenrir crossguard deep into its chest. He spun and decapitated a Gargoyle that underestimated him. "Only three of you left," he said with a grin, eyeing the now hesitant Gargoyles.

He was thrown off of his feet again, this time by a claw almost as large as him crashing into his back. He soared over the Gargoyles, hitting the ground and sliding to a stop when his back hit the Machine. "I meant the _Gargoyles_ , I didn't forget about you," he snapped when he pushed himself to his feet. He readied Fenrir again and summoned down a Thundaga storm. The Gargoyles, being in the air, naturally attracted the electricity and they drifted slowly to the ground. Sora noticed the Stealth Sneak had gone invisible again, so he charged the Gargoyles and, with one Light bathed blow, destroyed two. The other was slightly stronger than its peers and recovered in time to avoid the blow. It swiped at Sora's head and he ducked beneath the blow. He brought Fenrir up in a two handed blow that sliced the Heartless in half, causing it to disappear as every other Heartless did.

He looked around the room, searching for the last of the Heartless so he could begin looking for DISC. He caught a break and jumped to his right, avoiding a massive creature that landed where he had been. He fired a Blizzaga at the place where he had been standing, freezing one of the creature's hands to the ground. The Stealth Sneak became visible as Sora rushed it, struggling to escape its frozen binding. It gave up and lashed out with its tail at Sora's head. He raised Fenrir and covered it in Sparks, each of the small spells exploding upon contact with the Heartless' tail and burning it away. Sora spun when he got close to the creature and delivered a blow with as much force as he could into the Heartless' head, finally destroying it.

Sora landed lightly on his feet a second later and took a heavy breath. "Well... finally," he groaned before standing up and letting loose another heavy sigh. His moment of respite was cut short, however, when a huge, black hoof appeared from a large Heartless portal in front of him. It crashed into the ground near Sora, shattering the stone. Sora yelled out in surprise and tried to avoid the crumbling of the ground. He jumped ahead to try and get safe, but the stone he had aimed for crumbled away before he could reach it and he began to tumble into the Darkness. "NAAGH!" He looked up towards the Light and whimpered when he saw that the rest of the Heartless had come through its portal.

The creature was huge, with multi toned purple flesh. A pair of huge tusks came up and arched forward from its mouth, centering around a large black horn at the center of its head. It had four black hooes and the emblem of the Heartless at the center of its chest. A Behemoth. Sora hurriedly tried to deflect the incoming hoof of the creature that came near him, only to be slapped away by the force of the blow. He bounced off of the wall of the tunnel he was now falling through and crashed into the Heartless' chest. He buried Fenrir into the center of its emblem in an attempt to do any kind of damage, but it did nothing. His situation grew worse when the Behemoth became bathed in energy and bright yellow light arced from its body. The Thunder sent Sora a few feet further from the creature, into another blow from its hoof. Sora cried out in pain. He had to find a way to get above the monster...

His eyes lit up and he reached down to his belt, grabbing hold of the Wayfinder. "I really hope this works!" he shouted as he summoned a bright white Light from it. The Light engulfed his body and, a moment later, wings made out of elemental Keys formed at his back. He grabbed hold of the one made of stone and made it fly upward, pulling him above the Behemoth. He turned around when he finally was directly above it and tossed the key at the horn on the creature's head. The key flew true, followed close by the other blades. Each of them shattered upon contact with the shield guarding the Behemoth's weak point, until – with the collision of the final one made of Darkness – the energy field disappeared and the Heartless was stunned. Sora roared and raised Fenrir behind him as he plummeted towards the Behemoth, bathing the blade with Light and delivering a two handed blow that shattered the horn. The Heartless roared in pain before it, too, disappeared like its brethren. Sora grinned and slammed into the ground harder than he would have like.

"Ow..." Sora groaned. He stood up and grimaced. His ribs were broken. Again. And he wasn't sure he could summon up another Cure to heal himself. He tried and found he had been correct. The pain remained. He looked around, vision blurry, for the DISC, eventually catching sight of the dim blue light coming out of the ground nearby. Sora smiled and began to limp towards the weapon so he could save Vale. "I'm gonna do it. I _am_ going to do it." He was stopped short by a vibrating wave of energy so powerful it was visible as it rolled out from the DISC's location. Sora felt every part of his body shudder in pain and he felt blood begin to leak from his nose. Still, he would not surrender. He took a shuddering step forward, right into another wave. He stumbled backwards and began to cough up globules of blood. He steadied himself, though he wasn't sure that he had. The world was bobbing back and forth in front of him. "I... am going... to do it..." He said as he took another step forward. His toes dragged across the ground, eventually catching a stone. He tripped and fell forward. He saw the stone of the ground growing closer and closer, but he couldn't move his arms to stop himself from falling. His body just wouldn't respond.

Then he hit the ground and, instead of being solid rock, he found himself falling through water. Sora grunted in wonder as he began to plummet like a stone through the ocean. He looked up – or down, he wasn't sure at this point – and saw a stain glass image of a familiar looking woman wearing a red cloak. Her Keyblade was dangling from her left hand and she looked as if she was leaning against a wall. Across from her was a young man in a black coat. He was standing with his back to Ruby and a black Keyblade with a bright blue eye hanging at his side. "Ruby. Jaune..." Sora realized what was happening now. He was... he was in his own Heart. He continued to fall towards the pillar, his coat fluttering as he grew closer. He began to slow a few moments later and spun to land softly on his feet.

Sora looked down and saw he was standing at the center of Ruby's Keyblade's hand guard. When the hair on the back of his neck stood up suddenly, he looked over at the other side of the pillar where his shadow ended. "You need Darkness to survive." The shadow was congealing and growing a form of its own. Sora's eyes widened when he saw the creature begin to pull its way out of his huge shadow, only for what he expected to instead be replaced with a shadow that matched him in size and shape, its yellow eyes and monstrous grin familiar to Sora. His Anti-Form. "You need me to make it out."

Sora took a deep breath. "No. I don't," he retorted shakily.

The creature of Darkness crossed its arms, the move making it look exactly like Sora when he did the same. "You're falling apart out there," his opposite pointed out, its toothy grin growing more evil. It took a step towards Sora and cocked its head to the side. "Come on, you can't do it without me."

"N-no," Sora said, even more shaky now.

His Darkness sighed and shook his head. "What about Ruby?" It waved its arm in front of Sora and revealed an image of Ruby, though not entirely. The girl's skin had grown even more pale, and black veins ran across her face. A red diamond was at the middle of her forehead. Her red and black hair had turned a pale white, and her silvery-white eyes had become black and red. Ruby's red cloak was on the ground, forgotten and torn. In her right hand was the **χ** -blade, glowing with Dark power. "Salem will destroy her, just like Summer." The image disappeared and Sora's Darkness extended its hand once more. "Unless we survive. And you need me to do that."

Sora glanced at the ground. He... The Darkness was right. He reached out slowly for its hand, then stopped suddenly. "No." He looked up into its eyes. "Ruby's strong, even without me." He then brought his hand up, a bright red light flashing in his hand as he slashed at the creature's face. The Darkness avoided the blow and moved a step away to observe Sora standing with Crescent Rose in his right hand, ready for a fight.

"Fine... Then I'll just devour you." The creature turned, somehow, even more Dark and began to grow at an exponential rate. Sora took a half step back as the Darkside slowly brought itself up to its full, massive height. Sora gulped when he met the his counterpart's gaze, then raised Crescent Rose in front of him

"Bring it on!"

This only seemed to anger the Heartless, as it had already bathed its fist in pure Darkness and aimed it at Sora. Then it began to bring it down to crush him. "Come on!" Sora shouted before jumping straight up at the fist with his weapon at the ready.


	35. The Break of Dawn

**AN:**

 **Hey! In my friend group, we've got this thing where you just say the thing you celebrate during this season and the other person says theirs and no one complains. So Merry Christmas!**

 **To gamelover41592: I hope that the fight doesn't disappoint!**

 **To Warder of Lore: I know. Don't worry, he's going to accept that he has Darkness, but he won't be using it. The times he has used it on his own in games have either been Anti-Form where he doesn't seem to have control of himself, and Dream Drop Distance where he was already succumbing to Darkness so I don't really see it being a key weapon for him.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Yes, the Heartless that saved him wasn't acting completely on instinct, though I hope the who is surprising!**

 **To Guest: I know. Don't worry. His total reaction against Darkness was just because of how he lost control. He won't be using it, because I feel like the times he has in games have been when he couldn't really control himself, but he's going to understand that it's part of him.**

 **To Kingofclubs8129: I do really like Blake, too. The next two chapters are going to have more conversations between characters who haven't talked to each other much so far.**

 **To Soul's Release: Thanks! Also, great timing, you didn't have to wait long at all.**

 _ **Chapter 35: The Break of Dawn**_

 _The Land of Departure_

Ozpin walked across the green fields that stretched out from the edge of Yen Sid's castle, following a feeling that tugged at his Heart. To pass the time, he began gazing at the blue sky and the mountains that cut through it. The world was a good one for training new Keyblade Wielders. Calm, wide open, bright. The lack of any Heartless was also very beneficial, though it seemed the number of Heartless in general had decreased dramatically since his time. Eraqus had only read of them in journals left by the ancient Keyblade Masters. Reading those was a privilege he was afforded only because he was very close to completing his training under Yen Sid, which was probably also the reason he was allowed to accompany the man who had existed before the world they walked upon. "So what was the strongest one of those monsters that you faced?" Eraqus asked from Oz's hip.

"We called it a Dark Hide. It had four legs and at its shoulder was twice as tall as me," Ozpin said, looking down at the boy for a moment. Eraqus was hanging on every word, eyes wide. Ozpin looked away. "It was a substantial Darkness."

"But it was no match for the Light," the young man pointed out. "No amount of Darkness is ever a match for the Light!"

Ozpin frowned at that. Yen Sid's decisions regarding his student were not those that Ozpin would have made, but he respected them nonetheless. If the Wizard did not want his student to know that Darkness was so alluring for a reason, Ozpin could at least try to understand the decision. Removing any direct temptation to latch onto the force and its abilities could perhaps shield Eraqus from falling to it. Ozpin believed it left Eraqus simply unprepared for when he would come face to face with that incredible power, or from understanding and helping those who had not strayed too far down that path. "I survived," Ozpin muttered dryly, and he left it at that despite Eraqus' obvious desire for more information.

Eraqus grunted and crossed his arms, annoyed. Yet he did not press the issue further. Despite his obvious desire to know more, his master had ingrained in him both patience and a strict adherence to the Light. His mind would put together the truth it desired, regardless of what Ozpin supplied. "Who trained you to use your Keyblade?" the boy instead asked. "Are there any other masters out there?"

"The woman I'm hunting trained me, Eraqus," Ozpin said. He stopped in his tracks and clenched his fists at his side, filled with rage. "Before she -" Ozpin frowned when the feeling that had been leading him suddenly changed completely. When the hair on the back of his neck stood up suddenly, he jumped in front of the young man beside him and summoned up a powerful Reflect wall in front of them. Sting appeared in his hand, deflecting the powerful explosion of Darkness that appeared suddenly in front of them. The waves of purple-black energy crashed against the Reflect spell, causing the hexagons of Light to flash every few moments.

Ozpin looked over his shoulder at the now terrified Eraqus. Well, his antipathy of Darkness and those who used it was pretty much set in place now. "Go, get your Master," Ozpin snapped as the Darkness began to die down. Eraqus did not move, instead staring blankly out at the wave of energy. "Eraqus!"

The boy snapped out of his stupor and nodded vigorously. He raised his right hand to his left shoulder and slapped his palm against the large, white circle that rested atop a pauldron of metal on his shoulder. There was a bright light that flashed around the young man's form, and his clothes were magically and instantaneously replaced with copper brown and white. The armor clinked when he nodded again and sprinted off, protected from the much weaker river of Darkness into which he ran.

Ozpin returned his attention to the source of this Darkness and narrowed his eyes. It smelled all too familiar. The wave of energy disappeared after a few moments, and Ozpin could see a young man with white hair and golden eyes standing beside an annoyed looking woman with pale white skin and glowing red eyes. "I was hoping to surprise you with that," Salem growled. She lowered her outstretched right arm and pulled her sleeve further down her wrist before summoning the Kingdom Key to her hand. "Ozpin."

"Salem." He looked over at the boy. "Who is this?"

"Well, having students worked out so well for you, I thought I'd try it out," the woman said, her face contorting into a mocking grin.

"Hm," Ozpin grunted. He slowly moved Sting in front of him and took a slow breath before he readied for battle. It had been a few days since he had awoken, and he was already healed completely. He had been loathe to admit it, but the wounds he had suffered had been bad enough he still should have been out of commission for weeks longer. And yet he was now fully healed. He hoped that their trip through time had not caused this, otherwise Salem would be much more difficult to defeat in this coming battle.

Ozpin moved so quickly from where he stood that it seemed that he had simply disappeared. Xehanort's eyes widened in surprise and hunger. This was the power that a Keyblade Wielder could possess? He wondered, then, what the wielder of the **χ** -blade could accomplish... What _he_ could accomplish with it.

Ozpin reappeared behind Salem and, without making even the quietest of noises, slashed horizontally at Salem's head. She responded in time to stop him, moving slower than usual. Ozpin grimaced and let the block throw him back; so she had also become stronger from exposure to whatever forces pulled them through time. He flipped midair and landed on his feet in a ready stance once again. To Xehanort's eye, the entire exchange had taken a fraction of a second and he had not perceived a large portion of it. "You're faster than before," Salem noted, turning around to face Ozpin. He narrowed his eyes behind his glasses and clenched his fists around his weapon's handle. She rushed him, moving much slower than he had, and lashed out with her weapon. The blade crashed uselessly into Sting and was slapped away at every turn until Ozpin caught one of the blows with the teeth of his weapon and delivered a sharp blow to her temple with his elbow.

While she stumbled away Ozpin readied for a counterattack that never came. Salem forced herself to stand still and glare at the now very confused man. It dawned on him a moment later. _She isn't toying with me_. To test this hypothesis, he rushed her again with a blow much slower than her average speed, one that also left him wide open for attack. He focused on her weapon as he attacked, waiting for her to respond by sliding through his defenses and killing him. Instead, she barely managed to bring her weapon up to save herself and block his blow. Ozpin flicked his wrist and sent the woman tumbling, her body crashing into the boy accompanying her and sending them both crashing into the ground a dozen feet away. Ozpin took a slow breath and let his Keyblade fall to his side. _She really isn't toying with me..._ He smiled and raised his Keyblade above his shoulder in both hands, sprinting towards the woman who was struggling to push herself to her feet. The boy she had arrived with was unconscious from the force of the blow.

His blow rained down to slash at her skull, and Salem's red and black eyes widened in terror. Her Kingdom Key appeared in her hands above her, catching the heavy blow. Her arms shuddered, causing her once tight sleeves to shake free of her wrists. Ozpin gasped in surprise and stumbled backwards; the skin on her arms was wrinkled and blackened. Dying. "Your arms! What's happening to you, Salem?"

"So it _isn't_ happening to you," the woman growled. She stood up and swept her weapon to her side. "You grew stronger. You can survive more."

"You're falling apart..." Ozpin said. He glanced at the ground and shook his head. "I'm... Stay with me, maybe we can save you! We can protect this World!" He looked up at Salem again, knowing it was a mistake but not caring. He'd give her this one last chance. Not because everyone deserved redemption, but because he wanted to have her back despite himself.

"Really?" Salem asked, her gaze softening. Ozpin smiled softly and nodded. Maybe she could be saved! Maybe – His dreams were shattered when she got close enough to lash out with her weapon in a one handed blow. Ozpin was able to easily deflect the blow, the rebound so strong that it sent the Kingdom Key flying out of the woman's hand. The tip of the blade hit the ground just as her arm wrapped around Ozpin's throat. She looped around him and got him into a position from which he could not easily escape, his arms flailing uselessly in the air.

"I wonder if another trip will make _me_ the strong one, Oz," the woman whispered into his ear. Ozpin's eyes widened and he redoubled his struggle. She wanted to travel _further_ through time?!

"Salem, don't! It could kill you – it could kill us both!" Ozpin snapped.

His pleas fell on deaf ears. "Don't disappoint me, boy," Salem commanded the young man who was regaining consciousness now. "Have it ready for me when I get back." Then she opened the portal beneath her and Ozpin, and they began to sink into the inky blackness.

Before they vanished completely, Ozpin lashed backwards with his head, the blow causing his skull to slam into the woman's nose. She yelped in surprise and let him go, though it was too late to escape. The two fell through the portal completely, and were no longer on _any_ world. The Kingdom Key, however, remained. Xehanort stared at the weapon instead of the portal she had disappeared through and smiled. _This powerful Keyblade could be_ – he was cut off when the weapon rose into the air, glowing a bright white, and then flew straight up and out of the world's boundaries. He continued watching where it had come from even as a pair of men, one young and one old, with Keyblades approached him at a full sprint.

Elsewhere, Ozpin flew out of a portal of Darkness a hundred feet above an empty meadow. He crashed into the ground and slid through the dirt, destroying many of the flowers and crashing painfully through the stone buried beneath the soil. He slid to a stop after a few moments and groaned. "Why do always have such bad landings," he grumbled before pushing himself to his feet and checking for any broken bones. A fall like that should have done _something_ to him. A bruise or two on his head, at the very least. He reached up tentatively to the back of his scalp and patted it gingerly. He was surprised when no pain ran through his brain. He was perfectly fine now. "What the hell?"

"What. The. _HELL!?"_

Ozpin spun on his heel, Keyblade already in hand. It fell from his hand a moment later and he stared in disgust at the creature before him. Salem – at least he thought it was. It was wearing the same clothes as she had been and her hatred for him was very similar. However, Ozpin could not recognize the thing in front of him. The flesh had begun to melt right off the bones of the woman, disappearing into Nothingness at her feet. "What did you do to me!?"

Ozpin took a horrified step back. "Salem... is that you?"

"I'll kill you for this!" the creature snarled. Salem took a step forward and crumpled; the flesh had turned to ash around her legs, and the movement had caused her bones to separate completely. She screamed out in pain and landed face first in the dirt. The impact caused the bones that remained within her to shatter and her screams of pain grew louder. Ozpin set his jaw. At least it would all be over soon. The woman's eyes met his and he had to hold his terror back when the skin began to fall from her skull, the bone itself already fractured in a dozen places. The bone fell with the skin and muscle until, finally, nothing was left of the woman but a blackened Heart floating above a mist of Darkness. Ozpin forced his eyes to remain open so he could watch her pass from this world with his own eyes.

She didn't.

The Heart remained where it was for some time after it should have disappeared. Ozpin's eyes widened. Her Heart could no longer pass on to Kingdom hearts on its own. "Salem, what did you do to yourself?" he asked. What had happened to her? He looked down at his body; what had happened to _him_? He looked back up at the Heart and noticed, with a start, it was gone, though he doubted that Salem was gone. He wasn't that lucky.

He grimaced and sprinted into the forest surrounding them, not knowing he was on a cliff overlooking an emerald forest. This forest was on the largest continent on this world, the only world that remained now. Nor did he notice the shattered moon visible even in the daytime sky.

Ozpin had arrived on The Remnant.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora swept Crescent Rose upward with both hands, the blow colliding with the knuckles of the huge black fist rushing down at him. Darkness exploded out from the point of contact, rushing around the young man in a massive wave. The huge creature of Darkness hissed in pain as the blade of the weapon dragged through its flesh, though it did not seem to mind it too much, as the force behind its fist continued to push down. Sora growled to himself as the Heartless continued to push and used the Keyblade dug into the creature's hide to flip onto the top of its hand. This Darkside was a lot larger than any other Darkside he had seen before, its fist large enough it would take him a few steps to cross it. Was this how powerful the Darkness in his Heart had become? Sora felt a cold feeling run down his spine, but tried to ignore it.

Sora slammed the tip of the weapon in his hand down, burying it in the Darkside's hand so he could keep from falling off of the hand as the creature brought its arm up. The creature roared in pain this time when the blade erupted through its palm. The Heartless swept its hand backwards instinctively and Sora felt the Keyblade begin to slide out of the wound it had created, sending him soaring straight up into the air above his Darkness. The creature's yellow eyes drifted up to lock onto Sora, and the tentacle like hair around its face seemed to contort into a smile. The Heartless' hand shot through the air towards Sora. Sora raised his weapon to defend against the blow, but the creature did not care. Its fingers wrapped around Sora for a moment before immediately throwing him straight down.

Sora slammed into the face of the pillar and shouted out in pain as the image on its surface cracked beneath the force of his landing. The young man groaned and rolled onto his back just in time to see a huge foot floating above him. "Huh," he grunted before it began to plummet down to crush him. He pushed himself up as quickly as he could and picked up his weapon before leaping forward as far as he could, rolling to his feet just as the Heartless' foot slammed into where he had been standing a moment earlier. The ground beneath the blow gave way and was replaced by a large pool of purple and black Darkness. The surface writhed for a moment before Shadows began to pull themselves out of the ground and turn their bug like faces on Sora, antennae twitching in anticipation.

"It's like they only have three moves," Sora laughed to himself before jumping forward, slashing an incoming Shadow in half before its claws could rake his chest. The Heartless exploded, a puff of black smoke that was dispersed the moment Sora passed through it, already onto the next one. He rolled past the next Shadow's attack and jumped over one that tried to slash at him from where it had been flat on the ground. He spun mid air, twirling the faux-Crescent Rose around in his hand before leveling its tip at the ankle of the Darkside that protruded from the portal. A bright flash of Light erupted around him, causing the Shadows that were pointlessly attacking to disappear all at once, a beam of the same energy rocketing out from the end of the Keyblade to shoot cleanly through the monster's leg. There was a second of quiet before the point of contact exploded, severing the leg of Sora's Darkness.

The giant's arms flailed, the entire thing looking a little comical as it tumbled backwards and landed on its back. The pillar shook as the Heartless hit the ground, momentarily stunned and giving Sora an opening. He sprinted ahead, slashing at the monster's legs as he did, hoping to annoy the creature into attacking. The Darkness snarled and pushed itself up into a sitting position, raising one hand and trying to slam it down on top of Sora. He was on the creature's knee at this point, and he grinned before leaping to the other leg and letting the Heartless deliver a massive blow to its own fragile joint. There was a loud _snap_ when the blow collided and the lower half of the creature's left leg bent upward unnaturally.

Sora jumped from the Heartless' right leg and onto its arm, landing easily on his feet and sprinting up towards its shoulder. "I don't need you!" Sora shouted defiantly. He looked up on instinct and snarled. A moment later, he backflipped off of the Heartless' arm to avoid the incoming hand. He was lucky enough to slide between two of the monster's fingers, letting him jab his weapon into its flesh so he could slow himself and gain a new foothold on its hand. When his feet were firmly planted, he flourished the weapon to pull it out and the finger he had used to stop his momentum was cut off accompanied by the sound of singing metal. Sora ignored the monster's pain and ran along its twisting arm. He dragged his weapon behind him, leaving a long, yet also deep cut down the length of the monster's limb before reaching the creature's shoulder and launching himself into the air above its head.

The creature's eyes followed him. "I don't need you, so I am going to destroy you!" Sora roared as his momentum faded and he came to a stop. He raised his weapon behind him. "Now, _come on!_ "

The Darkside roared angrily and a ball of Darkness appeared between it and Sora, a huge orb of destruction that was glowing with a burning fire at its core. Black lightning shot out from its surface, one bolt flashing just past Sora's head. He didn't even flinch, instead just gritting his teeth. "Darkness will never win. Never!" he snapped, batting the next bolt of energy into the cloudy Darkness surrounding the pillar. He then aimed the tip of the weapon straight towards the ball below and charged the blade with pure Light. He swung the weapon back again. "And I'll be the one to show you that!" He flicked his wrist and the Keyblade flew forward, firing off the blade of Light in a long, razor thin projectile. Upon colliding with the ball of Darkness below, the surface of the sphere bent inward, the forces trying to defeat one another, before the blade finally won out and cleaved the destructive sphere in two. The energy disappeared, leaving only a cloud of swirling Light and Dark mist that Sora fell through before delivering the finishing blow to his Darkness.

Or he would have, if the Darkside hadn't disappeared completely. Sora was instead kneeling at the center of the pillar itself. "Thanks, I needed a pick me up." Sora stood up in a hurry and spun towards the source of the voice. _His_ voice.

Walking towards him, cracking its neck, was Sora himself. Or, rather, a Darker version of him. The creature looked like it had before their fight had begun, with skin of pure black and glowing yellow eyes. Its jagged, toothy grin was only visible as its mouth – the same bright yellow-orange as the eyes – was slightly open, making the facade of the creature unsettling. When it spoke, the mouth didn't move at all, which added to the unsettling feeling traveling down Sora's spine. "You're always so insufferably _bright_. 'Light this, friendship that.' Honestly, it's no wonder people think I'm not in here! But get you in a fight and there it is!" The eyes angled, as if making a mocking angry face. "Me!"

"What?" Sora asked, taking a step back. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head, swinging his weapon forwards so that the cartoon-ish Dream Sword was held in both hands – "WHAT!?" The blue and white sword was significantly shorter than the Crescent Rose he had been holding before, and far less suited for battle.

"Huh," the Anti-Form Sora muttered in surprise. He looked into Sora's accusatory and angry blue eyes. "Okay, that wasn't me. If something is wrong, it's all on your end. Now... where was I..?

"Right! So, every time you get in a fight, I take a step up. And you get in an absurd amount of fights," the Anti-Form said. Sora tried to ignore what was being said, instead charging the Heartless and slashing at its head. The creature laughed and sidestepped the attack, batting the attack away with a swirling vortex of Darkness. "It's weird though. Until the Keyblade proved it was a momma's boy, it didn't matter. You just kinda... dealt with me. And I got _strong_ back then. I had the Darkness of everyone you'd ever met at my back and you just ignored me like I was nothing." It spun around the next stab Sora tried to land before grabbing his throat with one of its black claws. Another vortex of Darkness appeared in its palm and crashed into Sora's face a dozen times, each blow adding to the force of the next until the last one sent him tumbling off the edge of the pillar.

"Oh come on! Where's all that bravado?" Sora turned to the source of the voice that was beside him as he plummeted through the Darkness. The Anti-Form shook its head and grabbed onto his face before spinning and throwing him away again. Sora crashed into the edge of the pillar and flew above it. He looked down and caught sight of the image of Ruby and Jaune, though he noticed with a start that it seemed to be the other side of the image. The Keyblades were hidden behind their bodies, and their horizontal positions had been flipped. A massive blow that felt like a kick crashed into the small of his back, sending him like a missile down at the pillar's surface. "Ah, home sweet home." Sora pushed himself up to his knees, only for another blow to land on his face. "My side of the Heart."

"What?" Sora asked, managing to get to his feet and avoid the next attack.

"Is that the only word you know?" the Anti-Form inquired dryly. It waited for Sora to attack and simply caught the Dream Sword's edge in its hand, effortlessly holding it in place as Sora struggled against it's overwhelming strength.

"This can't be. This is my Heart! Those are my friends, my _Light!"_ Sora growled as the blade was torn from his hand and disappeared in a burst of shadow. He was kicked in the center of his chest and fell to his back, sliding a short ways across the pillar.

"You know, you can be so empty headed sometimes. The very first thing you were told when this all began – 'The closer you get to Light, the greater your shadow becomes.' Love, friendship. You know what accompanies those?" The creature asked. Sora didn't respond, so the creature kicked him again and he slid across the pillar's face. "Fear of losing Ruby, and hating yourself for failing Jaune." Another kick sent Sora spinning closer to the edge.

Sora covered his eyes with his arm as he realized that the other Sora wasn't lying. "I..."

The Anti-Form Sora knelt down beside his bright opposite and shook its head. "Ugh... Running like a scared little kid." It grabbed Sora by his hair and lifted his head. "Not even worth the effort." It slammed Sora's face into the ground before kicking him again and sending him over the edge. The creature turned around as Sora fell over the edge, then it looked up at the source of Light above. "Now, to get out of here and..." It froze and turned around in surprise. "What did you say?"

Sora was dangling off the edge of the pillar by one hand, barely holding on. "No."

"Wow, you can even surprise yourself," the Anti-Form muttered. It walked over to peer down at Sora, its evil grin becoming more of a frown. "What is it you said? 'I'm going to destroy you?'" Sora's Darkness raised its claw above its head, a huge ball of black ribbons swirling in its palm. "Yeah, that sounds right!"

"No," Sora repeated, immediately before a bright flash of Light appeared and threw the Anti-Sora back across the pillar. The energy it had been holding in its palm flew from its hand, a huge beam of Darkness soaring away from the pillar. The creature righted itself mid-air and placed its hands together in front of it to launch a beam of energy at Sora. The young man was dressed in gleaming white and black clothes now, and that familiar aura of Light seemed to surround his entire body. Sora just let the beam hit him, the energy dying and dispersing around his form as he slowly approached his inner Darkness. "You're right."

The Anti-Form didn't say anything, instead just firing off another beam of destructive Dark energy. It glanced off of his glowing form a moment later. "I was scared of you. That's why I wanted to get rid of you, because I was running." Another beam of Darkness larger than Sora flowed around him like a mere breeze. He came to a stop just a few feet in front of the Darkness that continued to launch beams of Darkness at him. "I'm done." He reached out with a hand and placed it on the Anti-Form's chest, causing a massive explosion of Light to erupt from its body. A massive Darkside flew from its body and it soared through the air. Sora narrowed his eyes and moved even faster, appearing in the path of his Darkness and holding his hand out again. There was another powerful explosion, and the Darkside disappeared, a small black shape flying out from where it had been a moment earlier.

Sora let himself fall down to the pillar's surface, and the white glow surrounding him disappeared, leaving him in his normal clothes again. His coat was gone now, revealing the outfit he had bought on Patch before leaving with Ozpin and the others. He walked slowly over to the smoking creature and looked down at it with a sad frown. "So that's all I was afraid of."

The small shadow looked up at Sora, its yellow eyes communicating its fear of the young man. It stumbled backwards. Sora's eyes widened as he realized it was running from him. He shook his head. "I'm not going to destroy you." The Shadow froze and cocked its head to the side in confusion. Sora nodded. "I get it now. You aren't _evil_ , exactly. You're afraid. Of me, of everything. You hate me... You _are_ me."

Sora sat down beside the creature. "I get that now. Light and Darkness aren't all that different, because I was afraid of you, and I hated you. I wanted to destroy you, but that wouldn't help me. Riku used his Darkness for good, and so does Blake.

"But that isn't who I am. I think you're here to help me get stronger, to challenge me." Sora stood up and looked down at the creature, his Darkness, and laughed. "I can't believe I was ever afraid of you."

The Shadow shivered for a moment, then melted into the ground and disappeared. Sora took a breath and turned around. He may never use Darkness like Riku did, but it was still part of him. He wouldn't be afraid anymore.

It was at that moment that an echoing _ding_ rang out through Sora's Heart. He looked to his left and blinked at the glowing stairs made of Light that led into the Dark fog. "I wonder what's over there!" Sora shouted exuberantly to himself, his battle already forgotten. He grinned like a child and sprinted towards the stairs, eager to find out what was going to happen next. And, hopefully, a way out so he could help his friends.

Sora continued walking across the glowing stairs, now far enough from where he had fought his Darkness that he could no longer see the glowing column. He gazed out into the murky Darkness expectantly, but nothing would appeared to change the monotony of his surroundings. Indeed, all that was visible was two steps in front of him and two steps behind. As soon as he stepped to the next, one ahead would blink into existence and one behind would fade into Darkness. He was slowly growing impatient with the emptiness. His friends were waiting for him to shut off DISC and get his Keyblade. He frowned worriedly: if he survived long enough. DISC's vibrations had almost killed him after a couple seconds, and who knew how long he'd been unconscious?

Thankfully, that was when something new began to appear. What looked to be almost two dozen floating steps away was another column, a quiet light blooming above it. Sora stopped where he stood and stared into the distance, catching sight of a single figure standing at one side of the circular platform. Sora's eyes widened for a moment. Who the heck was this person? Another aspect of his Darkness? He shook his head and decided it didn't matter. He'd be ready no matter what. He sprinted off towards the column, one foot hitting each of the floating steps before he bounced off onto the next one.

He ran at full speed for a few seconds, at most, and was soon sliding to a stop at the edge furthest from the figure dressed only in a black cloak. The ground beneath the two of them was almost blue, save for the thin sliver of black that bisected the platform's face. Sora stood at one vertex of the sliver and the cloaked figure stood across from him at the other one. He was looking directly at Sora, though his features were, as always with the Black Coats, completely obscured by the hood. What a weirdly dramatic design choice. The man was quiet for a while, keeping his gaze locked intently on Sora. Sora, feeling uncomfortable about all of this, did the same.

Finally, the man spoke. "What, are you just going to stare at me all day?" The black arms of the cloak crossed and his head cocked slightly to the side "No, wait, I can do better... I know! 'What are you so afraid of?'"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Blake jumped backwards, leaving behind one of her shadows where she had stood. A Gryphon's claws swiped through where she had been, causing the mirage to fade away as she disappeared into the mass of monsters. Her back slammed into Sun's and the two wordlessly readied for battle, Sun bringing the end of his staff around so it was just above her shoulder. Blake took a moment to tie the ribbon of Gambol Shroud around the staff. Sun then used his Semblance to generate a few of his Light copies beneath his feet, instantly launching his body into the air at high speeds. Blake pulled in on the ribbon, and Sun began to spin around her. Every so often, he would shoot off one of his clones while he trailed from his weapon. The Light copy would explode as it collided with the Grimm, sending chunks of the swarm disappearing into nothing. Eventually, Blake pulled in harder and Sun landed beside her with a grin. "You just can't let go of me," he said.

"Duck," Blake commanded before aiming her gun over his shoulder and decimating a group of Creeps running towards them. When the Grimm died, she pushed herself around Sun and turned her weapon back into its sword form. "You should be serious for five minutes."

"Why? You've got my back," Sun pointed out. He spun his staff quickly around, summoning up a storm of Aero that he sent flying into the Grimm. They flew into the air, where they were hit by a huge blast of Thunder sent by Nora somewhere else on the battlefield. Sun was given a small respite from the onslaught of Grimm, giving him time to glance over his shoulder at the place where Ozpin and Goodwitch were trying to deal with the Dragon. "Do you really think they're going to be okay?"

Blake followed his glance and frowned. "I think they'll be fine." Her words contained enough confidence to make him believe it. Under her breath, however, she added, "Unless Sora doesn't show up." She, Ren, and the professors trying and failing to deal with the Dragon Grimm roaring above their heads were all acutely aware that this fight was only getting worse as time ran on. A large chunk of rock was tossed through the air, crashing against the huge Grimm and doing little more than causing a rain of newborn Grimm to fall from its flesh like sweat. Ozpin and Goodwitch were more than skilled as warriors, but destroying the Dragon would only work if it was done in a single, powerful blow. The kind only a Keyblade could deliver.

Blake shook herself from her thoughts when am Beowolf tried to cleave her in two. She dodged using her Semblance, and the resulting explosion of Darkness destroyed the Grimm and a pair of younger Beowolfs that had been treating the larger creature as a pack Alpha. Her twin blades slashed up and caught an Ursai's wrist, slicing the hand clean off before she stabbed the main blade through its chest and it disappeared in a burst of Black Dust. But it wasn't enough. The Dragon kept dripping more Grimm onto the battlefield, bolstering the already impossible to contain numbers of the Grimm. They were going to lose this battle. As if to emphasize this point, she was slapped away by the huge trunk of a Goliath, followed closely by Sun.

On the other side of the battlefield, also keeping as many of the Grimm away from the Professors attacking the Dragon, were Ren and Nora. Nora's... enthusiasm was more than making up for the fact there were only the two of them against half of an endless horde. "This is so much fun!" Nora shrieked while launching a volley of grenades into the sky, killing a squadron of Gryphons swooping towards them.

"You do realize we're fighting to prevent countless deaths, right Nora?" Ren countered. He used one palm to slap the incoming white head of a King Taijitu away so he could bury Stormflower's blade in its eye.

"I can still have fun," Nora retorted, mock hurt in her voice. She jumped up and changed her weapon back into its hammer mode to slam it down hard on the other one of the Grimm's two heads. The force of the blow was strong enough that, instead of simply dispersing into a cloud of Dust as was usual, the creature instead exploded violently. Black Dust exploded into the sky and came down like rain, save for the fact that it disappeared before bathing them in its evil. Nora placed her hammer over one shoulder for a second and her free hand on her hip before shooting Ren a smirk then turned around and demolished a trio of Ursai Majors coming at her.

Ren sighed. "I suppose I can't really argue with you on that." He couldn't deny he was enjoying himself a little despite the stakes of the battle. He ran towards Nora and jumped onto her shoulder, using her as a springboard to begin jumping from Gryphon to Nevermore in the sky.

"Hey!" Nora shouted indignantly before letting her scowl turn into a wild grin. She shifted her weapon back into a hammer and twirled it around her body, slamming the face of the weapon's head into the ground and firing. The explosion of force sent her flying upward. She laughed wildly again and twirled her hammer above her to summon a swirling storm of Thunder spells. A dozen Grimm were demolished around her, and from then it only took a small amount of effort to land heavily beside Ren on the back of a rather large Nevermore. The giant bird's spine snapped under the weight of the young woman's impact, causing its beak and tail to both point straight up and its flesh beneath the young warriors' feet to give way. Nora grabbed onto Ren's arm and shifted her weapon again into its grenade form before firing off a series of grenades to slow their descent. She and Ren were sideswiped by a Nevermore as they fell.

"Nora!" Ren screamed, reaching out for her as they were sent flying away from each other.

He landed against the back of a Nevermore, jumping away from the creature to try and reach the girl. He was relieved when an invisible force caught her instead and held her still, giving him more than enough time to reach her.

"The children are in no small amount of danger, Ozpin." Glynda Goodwitch let go of Nora and returned her attention to the impossibly huge creature she and Ozpin were attempting – poorly – to contend with. Its previous defeat had required the unleashing of an ancient, magical power and the death of the other creature had required a Keyblade Wielder sharing his power. The woman grimaced as Ozpin approached the Dragon – for the fifth time – and was slapped away by the monster's wing, almost casually.

"I am afraid that none of us are in what I would call a... good position, Glynda," he groaned as he flipped over the air and landed beside her. He leveled his cane on the creature instead and fired off a burst of Fira spells, the best he could manage at the moment, and the magic bounced off of the monster's flesh, shaking loose another group of newborn Grimm from its skin.

"We're doing more harm than good here, Ozpin." Still, she catapulted a sizable chunk of the school up at the monster. The stone crashed into its head and it snarled angrily, raising its wings above it.

"And now it seems we are _only_ doing harm." The dragon flapped its wings and took off, roaring like the monstrous predator it was. It began flying in a circle around the school. It swooped down, making sure to come in as close as it could above Glynda and Ozpin as if taunting them. It flapped its wings again and the two warriors were flattened against the ground by the force of the resultant winds. Ozpin tried to push himself up to his feet, and was torn suddenly from the ground a moment later by the gargantuan claws of the Dragon. The man struggled against its grip, but he couldn't escape as it climbed far above the school's hollow bones before it tossed him upward and opened its maw to devour him.

Ozpin raised his cane on instinct, even though he knew that this was a useless endeavor. Stuck as far in the sky as he was, with nothing that could harm the dragon, he knew that it was over. In the back of his mind, he realized that the school hadn't exploded yet, which meant Sora had shut off the doomsday weapon beneath the school's grounds. _Well, at least I have that_. Then the Dragon's jaws slammed shut around the man, and the world went black.

 _ **R W B Y**_

"What?" Sora asked the man.

"Oh, right! Introductions first!" the man shouted. He shook his hooded head and slapped his forehead. "Can't believe I forgot about that!" He twisted his hand around and pulled down his hood to reveal the blue eyes, spiky brown hair, and wide grin that Sora had only seen on his reflection until then. He raised his hand and waved good naturedly at Sora. "Hi, I'm Skye!"

Sora blinked in surprise. Skye? As in... Ozpin's long dead first apprentice? "Uh... Hi. I'm Sora," he responded slowly. Skye nodded, as if waiting for more to be said. Sora bit the inside of his cheek before sighing and shaking his head. He couldn't figure out how this had happened. "Um... How are you here? Ozpin said..."

"Yeah, I honestly don't really know either," Skye replied as he looked around slowly. He shrugged and placed his hands in his pockets. "I should be... no, we're getting off topic. Look, how isn't all that important right now, is it?"

Sora slapped his forehead. What was he doing? "You're right! Ruby, Oz! I have to get out, shut off DISC! I have to -"

"Whoa! Is this what I was like as a kid?" Skye asked. He grimaced and placed one hand over his face in exasperation. "This is going to be a long day, isn't it?"

"Hey!" Sora shouted indignantly, earning laughter from Skye.

"Sorry, sorry!" placated the man who looked just like Sora. He placed his hands on his hips and looked up. "Hmph, you've got a friend out there apparently. Still, you probably want to hurry this up, huh? That's what I'd want to do."

Sora nodded when the man looked down. "I need to help my friends."

"Even the ones that don't want your help?"

Sora glanced at the ground. "Especially them."

Skye frowned. "Even if trying to save them could destroy the world?" the man asked quietly, the question surprising Sora.

Sora glanced at the ground. "I..." He shook his head before resolutely staring up at Skye and saying, "Everyone can have a happy ending. Everyone who tries to make a _real_ one."

Skye nodded. He understood what Sora meant. "I agree. But only if they're strong enough, Sora." Sora frowned at that. It sounded heartless to say only some people could even try. Skye noticed and clarified after a couple seconds. "Anyone _can_ be strong enough, but not everyone _is._ "

"How?" Sora asked, though he felt like he already knew the answer.

"And we're back on track," Skye noted. He pointed one gloved finger directly at Sora. "Now, _what are you so afraid_ of? Darkness is it? That it's evil?"

Sora shook his head. "I ran from my Darkness because I was scared of it. _Was_. I'm afraid of myself anymore, Skye. Never again." Sora took a step towards the other man. "Overcoming my Darkness, other people's Darkness, is what has always made me my strongest. Besides, it's part of me. It's not evil it's just... it's not me. So, no, I'm not afraid of Darkness and I'll never be afraid of it again."

Skye nodded slowly, simply taking the reply in. "Then what?"

"Losing – Losing everyone I love all over again," Sora admitted sadly, a tinge of fear running behind his words. He thought back to Kairi and the others with a sad frown. His mind traveled next to Jaune, Ozpin, Ren, Nora, Neptune, Sun, and, finally, Ruby. Sora's gaze fell and he fought off tears in his eyes. He hated to admit that he was afraid of what could happen to him without them. It had broken him and they had been there to help him. Without them... "I'm not strong enough to survive that again."

"I can understand that," Skye muttered. He took a step forward as well, and Sora noticed that the platform behind him had suddenly changed behind him from blue and black into a rust and gunmetal. Sora turned around and saw that the platform behind him had also changed into those same colors. As Sora continued to stare, Skye cut in and said something. "What do you want out of life?"

Sora turned to the man who looked like him. Who, for all intents and purposes _was_ him. "Do we really have to do all this again?"

"Are you saying your answers are the same?" Skye inquired. He grinned. "That you're the same person."

"Hmph," Sora conceded.

"That's what I thought," Skye said, a smirk across his face. "Now then, what is it you want out of life."

"To save the World. Obviously," Sora grunted. "You know, from the giant dragon and explosion stuff."

"Ha ha!" Skye said before rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Y-yeah, I guess I should've known that one, huh? So I guess I won't even bother asking the last one, should I? We both know that Ruby is what you care about the most." Skye looked past Sora and smiled at the cloudy expanse beyond for a moment before returning his attention to Sora. There was a bright flash in his hand and Skye flipped the Master Keeper so its blade was in his hand and the handle pointed towards Sora. Skye took a few steps towards Sora and bridged the gap, the rest of the platform behind him changing colors as he walked. Eventually, the surface had changed from the black and blue eye and into a silvery-gray Heart shape surrounded by a rusty red.

Skye stopped just in front of Sora and held the weapon out. "In your hand, take this Key," he began, a serious and proud smile on his face. "So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall be. And you will find me, friend – no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love." He shook the Key for a moment and Sora grabbed hold of the handle. Skye let go of the weapon and Sora grimaced as he almost dropped it, though he was able to keep it from falling. The older of the two looked up and nodded before returning his attention to Sora. "You aren't too bad a legacy to leave behind, Kid. Oh, and tell Oz I said 'Hi,' would ya?"

"Wait, I'm waking up?" Sora asked dumbly, though excitedly.

"Yeah. Whatever was killing you was shut off," Skye explained. He pointed at the Keyblade in his younger counterpart's hands. "And don't worry about the Master Keeper, kay? Now that you're not afraid of reaching down here anymore, you'll be able to grab onto its power again. It'll come when you call."

Sora's eyes flew open a moment later, barely in time to catch sight of the blonde young man in a black coat running through a corridor of Darkness. All of Sora's wounds were healed, as if by a Curaga, and the DISC was cut into pieces beside him, the damage consistent with a Keyblade's attacks. Sora pushed himself up to a sitting position and watched the portal of Darkness slowly shut behind Jaune Arc. "I'll pay you back for this one, Jaune. Promise," Sora said to himself before pushing himself to his feet. He held his hand out in front of himself and took a deep breath before reaching into his Heart again. The world in front of him turned a blinding white, and a new Keyblade rested in Sora's outstretched hand.

Its blade was a charcoal cylinder that tapered out at both ends, an 'E' making up the teeth of the weapon. The top and bottom of the E had small squares cut out from their length. The guard of the weapon was boxy, made up of gunmetal blocks and copper colored cylinders that connected those plates. The teeth was squared and had rivets down the center. The chain that dangled from the weapon's base was a gunmetal colored, spiky Heart shape. Sora unzipped his Coat and took it off, dismissing and resummoning the Master Keeper to his right hand, then tensed his legs and prepared to jump through a hundred feet of pure rock to save his friends. "Time for a test run," he told the Keyblade in his hand, then he launched himself straight up.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Just as the Dragon's maw closed around him and he resigned himself to his own death, the world for Ozpin was filled with an echoing scream of rage and pain. The Dragon's jaws opened wide and the world became bright again as the ancient warrior was thrown from his death and into the open sky above Beacon. A sphere made of intersecting hexagons of Light appeared around him as he tumbled towards the ground so far below, giving the man the ability to land safely. He wasn't really focusing on that, however. His eyes were locked on the young man above him.

The wind was whipping around Sora fast enough to become a blade, one that had dealt a nasty albeit superficial blow to the Dragon's hide. That injury was likely what had caused the creature to regurgitate Ozpin. Sora was surrounded by small chunks of stone and dirt, as if he had exploded through the ground and this far into the air with a single jump. Ozpin did not dare look down to see if that was correct as he worried he would miss the action if he did. Sora's coat was held in his outstretched left hand, the black fabric flapping about with the windblade Sora had created until the young man let it go and it began to drift slowly to the ground. He was dressed now in the dual colored pants and short sleeved jacket he had bought on Patch before they had all separated, and the wild grin on his face was wider than Ozpin had ever seen it before. It was easy to tell why. The Master Keeper was held in Sora's right hand, the Keyblade glinting in the Light of the day as the young man soared above the dragon.

Ozpin smiled to himself and cheered so Sora could hear him. The young man had done it! He had saved them, and now it was only a matter of watching him finish the Dragon.

Sora landed on the back of the huge Grimm, rolling across its pitch flesh and to his feet as he sprinted along its back and towards its wings. The Dragon shrieked angrily and performed a roll, twisting in the air in an attempt to get Sora to fall from its back. The newly re-minted Keyblade Wielder dashed towards one of the bony spikes coming out from the creature's spine and looped his arms and legs around it as tight as he could. The beast continued to twirl, but it was to no avail. Sora would not fall.

It stopped after a few loops, at which point Sora jumped from the spike and continued to run along the monster's back and towards its wings. The Dragon's flesh coagulated in front of him and a Gryphon leaped out to attack Sora. He simply raised his blade and cut down the Grimm before it could react, then hooked a sharp turn so he could run along the thin membrane of the Dragon's flapping wing. Sora twirled the Master Keeper above his head for a few seconds while he summoned a powerful blade of Light to its edge. Then he let the blade fall behind him so he could drag it along as he ran, leaving a huge gash through the Grimm's wing.

The Dragon shrieked and trembled, the loss of tension in its wing throwing its entire body off balance Sora could feel the wind around him change as the Dragon tried to compensate for the damage to its wing, even somehow managing it for a few seconds. Sora grinned in triumph and backflipped off of the first wing while raising the Keyblade above his shoulder. He aimed for a moment, then tossed the weapon as hard as he could at the other wing. The blade cleaved through the membrane like it was butter, at which point Sora summoned the weapon back to his hand and did it again. A half dozen times he did it as he fell until both of the monster's wings were little more than tattered, red rags.

Sora hit the ground a second later and lowered the Keyblade in both hands to his right side, then twisted it so the blade was pointed upward. The weapon glowed bright white after a moment, forming another blade of Light. Sora tensed his legs, then jumped upward with as much force as he could muster. Simultaneously, he began to lengthen the blade of Light around his new weapon. It grew and grew until, finally, he brought the huge blade up and around. The tip of the weapon dragged through the skeleton of the broken Beacon Academy, causing a couple of the buildings to crumble a little more. The attack cleared the school with minimal damage, and arced up to the Dragon, blade catching on its side. "Come on!" Sora shouted as he began to twist his body and push harder against the monster, and the blade began to drag through the Grimm's body until it was completely cleaved in two. Sora roared victoriously as the creature was cut clean in two and its body separated. He flew between the two halves of the creature and turned around to aim his Keyblade at the huge mass of Grimm far below as well as the slowly disintegrating twin masses of the Dragon. The tip of the Keyblade glowed a bright white for a moment, a huge ball of Light appearing until Sora let it loose in a brilliant flash that blinded Ozpin and the others on the ground.

When their vision returned to them, Sora was sitting on top of the Beacon Huntsman Statue, staring up at the moon with a smile on his face. The Master Keeper was resting beside him. "Where happened to all of the Grimm?" Glynda asked. She looked around, awestruck by what had happened. The Grounds of Beacon Academy, which had just moments before been filled completely by Grimm, were now devoid of the monsters. Ozpin and the others looked around to confirm what she had pointed out.

"What happened?" Ozpin echoed as the sunlight hit Sora and illuminated the content smile on the boy's face. Sora turned towards them, shooting a grin and wave. "The world got some of its Hope back, Glynda. Something it desperately needed." Then Ozpin led them towards the boy so they could celebrate their victory.


	36. Aftershocks

**AN:**

 **Hey, sorry it's been so long. It's a little paradoxical, but I actually have less time for this when I'm on Christmas break. I'm always doing things with my family, so I'm really never in front of my computer until I'm back at college. Which, now I am. And it's freezing here in Chicago, so I'll probably have more time inside.**

 **That said, I did get to watch some RWBY, and it's really the first time Ruby's Hero complex got in the way. Like, sure Qrow was hurt and all, but I had the feeling that he had everything under control until he had to save Ruby from that falling building. He was awesome, especially when he just started beating Tyrian with his fists. Nice. On the Weiss side of things, I'm still not a huge fan of Jacques' character, and I do like Whitley's ultra-creep factor. Still waiting on Mrs. Schnee, though. Weiss and Winter** ** _have_** **to take after her, right?**

 **Responses...**

 **To gamelover41592: Thanks. I was excited to put Skye in there as a way to end the flashbacks and bring them around to the present. I decided on the Master Keeper as his new weapon mainly because it seems like it has some sort of connection to the KHUX storyline. Also, since Aqua was going to give Sora her Keyblade until finding out Terra had done that for Riku, so I feel like he might one day obtain the Keyblade she uses now anyways.**

 **To Warden of Lore: I get that. Balance is pretty good, but I liked the idea that Sora didn't need to balance Light and Dark even if some people like Riku do to be the best they can. Everyone needs their own way to follow the real moral north, as long as they're following it. I'm glad it was still awesome despite being not what you expected.**

 **To Soul's Release: Thanks! I've always liked that quote from the first game and thought it was pretty apt for Sora's path in this second half of the story.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Yeah, even if Sora has used Darkness so far, I felt like there were extenuating circumstances regarding that. So I felt like keeping him strictly a Light user made sense. And, yep, this is the start of the last fight. Well, not this chapter. Like I said, there's a two chapter 'breather' before the last fight begins.**

 **To Remnant7: Thanks! I spend a lot of time on those fight scenes. The Keyblade is just the Master Keeper/Master Defender that showed up in BBS.**

 **To Kingofclubs8129: Unfortunately, I don't have any plans for a new Drive Form to be introduced, but Sora will definitely not be fighting with one Keyblade at the end. Now that he's accepted his Darkness is there and there's no reason to wall it off if he can just resist it, it's like all the strength he had is just... there. More like how Roxas just has two Keyblades without having to transform.**

 _ **Chapter 36: Aftershocks**_

Qrow sat silently with his arms crossed as he waited for the jury made up of people from Vale, Vacuo, and Mistral that had been visiting Atlas a week earlier when the DISC had been activated in Vale. Along with them were non-voting Atlesian 'counselors' who could have their voices heard during deliberations, but would not contribute to the decision itself as they were believed to be 'inherently biased.' Qrow supposed that was true, seeing as the people on trial were both Atlesian and also claimed to have done it for the good of their Kingdom, but he still believed they should have been allowed more of a say as true peers of the criminals. Qrow shook his head; Sora was rubbing off on him a little.

He let his gaze drift as he continued waiting. Eventually, it found a tight bun of purest white beside a similarly colored hat. Qrow pursed his lips and frowned sympathetically. Ice Queen and her mother were here, as they had been for every day of this expedited trial. Ice Queen Jr. wasn't present, as she was with Ruby and the others, being distracted from what could happen. Her father may have tried to unleash genocide on an unsuspecting public, but he was still her father. She didn't need to see him possibly get sentenced to death. Ice Queen and her mother, however... Well, to be here was expected of them. She'd grown somewhat distant over that week, spending more and more time around her mother and siblings since news of Jacques' arrest had hit. Even if they wouldn't admit it, they'd needed her to be a rock, so she'd become one. At that, Qrow's mind returned to Summer in the aftermath of his sister's disappearance. She'd held Tai together...

Qrow noticed suddenly he was on his feet, walking along the aisle that divided the gallery of the courtroom. He was dressed nicely, for once. _Actually_ nicely. Black pants and suit jacket with a gray shirt and a blood red tie tightened all the way on his throat. He hadn't known why he'd dressed like this upon waking, but he was starting to wonder if it had been an unconscious compulsion. Now that he thought about it, was he doing this because, well, because Ice Queen shouldn't have to be the rock? Surely her father's arrest was affecting her just as heavily as well? He didn't really question it when he slid into the otherwise empty bench beside Winter Schnee. Her mother looked over, across the young woman. Ice Queen had her mother's features and the trademark hair of her father, it appeared. The woman's eyes narrowed dangerously, as if warning this intruder away with threat of violence, and Qrow honestly considered it for a moment.

Just as he thought his will would give out, Winter placed her hand on her mother's shoulder and whispered something. The woman raised one eyebrow before sighing and returning her attention to her hands. Qrow slowly but surely eased back into his seat, also keeping his eyes straight ahead. For once, the perennially sarcastic and talkative Qrow Branwen was at a loss for words, though the feeling that he should find them persisted in his gut, wriggling around with an odd combination of sympathy and guilt he had never really felt before. His grip tightened on his knees while his mouth grew increasingly dry. The feeling in his gut grew until he turned towards Winter. "Ice -"

He was cut off when the doors opened suddenly, the white painted wood echoing out with a monstrous crash that filled the room. Qrow swallowed what he was about to say; Jacques Schnee was being led into the court room in chains, accompanied by the now former members of the Atlesian Council. The five humans were led together to a black table on one side of the room and forced to sit down. Across from them, on a higher platform with a white podium at the center, a door opened and General Jimmy walked out with the look of a man appointed Judge and Executioner. Thankfully, the jury entered a moment later and sat down almost completely in sync. It was quite the odd sight for members of the four disparate Kingdoms to act as one, even if they were allies in name.

General Jimmy took a step forward and placed his hands on the podium. He cleared his throat once and surveyed the room slowly, his eyes briefly lingering on three people: Jacques, Winter, and – finally – Qrow. The scythe wielder met the man's gaze for the half-moment it rested on him, taking comfort in the sparks of rivalry that still existed between them, though it had become much more friendly as of late. Jimmy's aid had been quiet, but far from being without risk. "Do you have anything else to say for yourselves before the verdict of the jury is read?" Ironwood inquired of the conspirators who sat before him. The criminals were dressed all in black jumpsuits, white letters and numbers emblazoned on the backs. It was a stark departure from Jacques' usual wardrobe.

The other members of the accused turned almost subconsciously towards Jacques, expecting him to say something – _anything_ – more in their defense. Being seen as innocent was out of the question, given the makeup of the jury, but swaying Ironwood towards leniency... Well, less likely things had occurred. The accused's faces began to pale when Jacques remained momentarily silent, and what he eventually said did nothing to return color to their faces. "You presupposed our guilt without any care for the reasons or extenuating circumstances before this trial even began, _James_ ," the former Schnee Patriarch said, his voice quiet and broken. He was not too broken, it appeared, to lightly insult Ironwood with familiarity even now. He looked up at the General and his face didn't change in the slightest. "So why don't you do us all a favor and get on with this?" Qrow saw Ice Queen stiffen in the corner of his vision, though from rage or disappointment in her father he wasn't quite sure.

"Fine then," Ironwood sighed. He turned towards the jury expectantly.

"We the Jury find the defendants guilty of all accused War Crimes," the elected speaker said. He said more, but Qrow didn't hear it. He was too focused on staring at Winter with his peripheral vision, watching how her face had frozen over into a mask of paradoxically serene anger. The same one she had tried to use when they had seen each other at the Vytal Festival. That... hadn't turned out so well. He placed his hand on hers, a silent and invisible movement no one would see. She moved her hand away before their skin had even touched.

"Your punishment for this eventuality was decided by the remaining Headmasters," Ironwood stated when the Jury finished handing out the verdict. The room grew very quiet and Winter stiffened again. Ironwood glanced down and muttered something to himself. From what Qrow could read from his lips, it involved cursing and Ozpin. Jimmy looked up at the accused again and nodded. "For the many crimes of which you are accused, you are sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. No visitation. No communication with the outside world. No communication with anyone save each other. Your guards will be automated by an off-site server, your custodians simpler – but nearly indestructible – android models. You will die in prison, but you will live there as well. Take that as mercy or cruelty, it is your decision."

Ice Queen surged to her feet and walked calmly past Qrow. He, flustered, watched her go for a moment just like everyone else in the room was watching. She was wearing a gray and blue outfit not unlike her battle attire in style, though the tail was longer and more decorative while the sleeves were tight enough to constrict movement to an extent. Qrow knew what she was doing, that she was making herself uncomfortable. He followed her out and into the main body of the building a second later. Her gray-black heels clicked with every step, and Qrow somehow was struggling to even keep the divide between them at what it was. He quickened his pace in an effort to catch up, jogging past the woman and jumping in her path. "Winter, I -" He was pushed out of her path by a icy Beowolf pinning him to the wall.

"I am uninterested in whatever it is you have to say, Qrow," the woman growled, her voice filled with more fiery rage than he had ever heard from her before. She was more the cold type, after all.

"Maybe not," Qrow said when she stopped in front of the exit. News crews were congregated outside, talking excitedly amongst themselves as they waited for the first glimpse of the disgraced Schnee family. Normal people were scattered among them, signs raised either for her father or for his death. Winter glanced at the ground and took a deep breath, trying to prepare herself for something no one should have to prepare for: being branded the child of a monster. Her work to prevent the destruction would quickly be forgotten because of her blood ties, her bravery undone by her father's fears.

Winter allowed herself a moment of weakness. _It's not fair_ , she thought as she placed her hands over her face and held off the tears that would ruin her makeup. She needed to appear together, strong and defiant to the last. It was the only way. Then she pushed down the emotions and stepped into the fray.

Questions and lights bombarded her from every angle, deafening her and blinding her all at once. She blinked when she realized she had not prepared herself enough for what was happening. She had not truly been ready for the accusations that were being hurled at her. She took a half-stumbling step backwards. Was this all it took to break through her Specialist Training? Accusations and emotional pain!?

"Maybe you don't need to hear anything I have to say," Qrow said, suddenly beside Winter. She turned on a dime, fist rising as she did. She didn't care what it would look like, she needed to take her anger out on someone! Anyone! And he would do – Her mind went blank when his arms wrapped around her shoulders and his chin rested against the top of her head, obscuring her from the view of the crowds. "But you need someone to be there with you, Ice Queen." Her fist fell to her side and she felt tears welling up in her eyes. She must have sniffled once, because his arms tightened around her sympathetically.

"I just want this to be over," she mumbled just loud enough for the man to hear.

He was quiet for a while, thinking about what to say. "It won't be okay, I'm not going to lie about it." Winter looked up in surprise, and he let her drift slightly away so their eyes could meet. "You deserve better than that. In your lifetime, everyone will always ask if whatever good you do will ever offset what he tried to do. But I don't think that's why you do those things. You do them because... it's who you are. Ice Queen, I never thought I'd tell you not to change."

He let go of her shoulder and wiped a tear off of her cheek. "Now, let's walk through these idiots and get something to eat?"

Winter smiled. "Well, I suppose I can slum it with you for now," she mocked before grabbing his hand. Her grip tightened, though it wasn't an uncomfortable hold for Qrow. She walked past him and he followed with his hand still in hers, igniting torrid rumors across the world that Winter Schnee, the daughter of the disgraced Jacques Schnee, was romantically involved with the famous Qrow Branwen. Well, not all gossip is false, it seems.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ozpin watched Sora laughing and telling stories to the other... graduates, he supposed was the right term now. The current story involved one of Sora's old friends, Goofy, and one of the many times the giant man-dog had saved Sora's life. The young man's face and hands moved animatedly, every movement communicating the excitement of the moment he was reliving. The others were hanging on his story's every word, the images passing before their eyes. It seemed hard to believe that those warriors could still be so amazed by such events when they had seen Sora annihilate an entire army of Grimm in a single blow.

The destruction had been very limited due to that massive unleashing of power. Grimm that had invaded the city disappeared in a single moment, but they had been the least of the problems. While many of the Huntsmen in training had risen to their duty as the defenders of the innocent, there had also been a number who had run in the face of their fear. For some, this would ignite a fire to become better. In others... Less so. Worse still was the presence of criminals attacking in a flurry of opportunistic rioting that had ended up destroying a half dozen buildings all across the city. No lives had been lost, though, so they could say that the damage was truly meaningless.

Their group was all together at the docks of Vale's main city, preparing to leave the Kingdom and meet up with Qrow's group somewhere on the coast of Vacuo. Ozpin had thought extensively on where his former ally and lover's hideout could possibly be, and had come to a single conclusion regarding that. She was somewhere on the giant island that rested between Vacuo and Vale. Certainly, its Draconic shape and the similar nature of the giant Grimm that had thus far been encountered was likely just a coincidence, but the island was the only place on all of Remnant for which he could find no accounts of exploration whatsoever. Even the lands deep into Vale's wilderness had been conquered by Mankind at least once, if not more. The ancient wizard had often been distracted by events occurring throughout the world, so much so that he had simply supposed the region was fraught with danger; surely Salem must have been migratory, always remaining just a step ahead of him. It had been her way before, so he had never considered that she would remain in a single region for such a long period of time. Whenever she had appeared before to do battle with Ozpin's champions, the location had been seemingly random. Now, however, he knew she had a static base of operations.

"What are you thinking about?" Ozpin let his gaze drift slightly to the right, where a severe looking blonde woman walked up with a pair of coffee cups in her hands. Ozpin gave her a thankful smile and took his drink.

"We are nearing the end, Glynda. It's hard for an old man like myself to not reminisce in such a time," Ozpin responded with a dry smile. He took a deep drink of the coffee and sighed contentedly. Few were his creature comforts, but his time with Salem had denied him this one. It was a luxury he savored all the more now. "Thank you, Glynda."

"Hm," she said with a nod, keeping her eyes fixed on the young warriors. "What will you do after this?"

Ozpin coughed and nearly spat out his drink. "I... what do you mean?"

The blonde woman sighed in disappointment. "Ozpin, we have asked each and every student who has ever walked through the doors of Beacon Academy the question of what they will do with the skills we will teach them. And again we ask what they will do when they have completed their training and are ready to be sent out into the world as Huntsmen. For some, a life defending their home. For others, revenge. Others still seek to defend as many as possible. No matter what, when they fulfill their goal, they become aimless. Ozpin, as I understand it, this has been your goal for over a thousand years. You would not do well to be aimless," the woman explained simply.

Ozpin frowned at that. She was correct. Qrow himself had become aimless upon Summer's 'death,' to the point where he had lost his way. This was different enough, that Ozpin knew. But stil... What _would_ he do then? Ozpin's eyes locked onto Sora once more as he said something that elicited quite the rare event – smiles erupted on the faces of each of the warriors surrounding him, including young Miss Belladonna. "So he's standing there, talking crazy. 'Argh, I'm going to destroy the world!'"

"Wait, Xehanort's Heartless was a pirate?"

Sora blanched at Sun's comment. "Um, I... No. That was... Heh..." He shook his head and decided to dodge the question. "Anyways, I decide to point out what everyone else thought was obvious... 'You're not Riku.'"

Ozpin smiled again as the laughter erupted again. "I can honestly say that I will be very happy to complete this goal. One should never have a single mission in mind for as long as I have." He turned to the woman and smiled, the expression bittersweet on his face. "I have been the vanguard of war for far too long, Glynda. I am tired, and I will be quite happy when this ends."

"Ozpin, do you expect to die?"

He ignored the question. "Thank you, my friend. I have enjoyed my time with you, perhaps more than I should have." He took another drink and the two fell silent. Finally: "I don't intend to die, Glynda. It is possible... It would simply be quite difficult. No, simply put I have already lived far too long as a chessmaster; perhaps it is time to step aside and allow someone else to guide the board."

"So you will leave."

"Perhaps," Ozpin said simply. "I have watched too many friends die, and I am unsure that I could watch the same happen once the reason I fight is gone." He smiled dryly. "Besides, I was a pretty good hermit once. The best, maybe. I wonder if I can reclaim my title as the man hiding behind his home's curtains."

"No. You'll be staying."

"And why is that?" Ozpin asked, bemused.

"Because, as I have learned from that young man, no one deserves to stand alone against their future. Not even a tired old man," she remarked. She looked over at Sora as she said this. "Regardless, this will be the last quiet moment you can speak with him. I would impart whatever wisdom it is you wish to impart, Ozpin."

Ozpin glanced over at her. "It's Oz, for you. And, understood, _Headmaster_ Goodwitch." The woman's arms uncrossed in surprise. Then Ozpin began to walk towards Sora. "I promise, then, that I will see you again once this is over. It is no less than you deserve for being one of the best I have ever known, Glynda."

The woman's cheeks flushed unnoticeably and she shook her head at the man. "I'll hold you to that, Oz," she replied just loud enough for him to hear.

"So you traveled to the past and everything was black and white? I thought that only happened in TV flashbacks," Nora said.

"Yeah, it was weird. Especially when Pete showed up and punched himself in the face a few times!" Sora said brightly. He frowned. "It was weird to see that he used to be... good. Angry, but good. Even evil, he was more goofball than bad."

"Sora," Ozpin interjected. The young man turned around. "Would the rest of you excuse us? I have a question I would ask of our friend." His former students nodded and dragged Sun away as he jumped around, pretending to be Mickey Mouse, much to Blake's combination of chagrin and amusement.

"What's up, Oz?" Sora asked, leaning back and placing his interlocked fingers behind his head.

"You asked once of my past. Do you wish for me to tell you it now, Sora?" Ozpin asked.

Sora glanced down. "When I asked, you said you'd only tell me if I understood what you did."

Ozpin nodded. "And do you?"

Sora frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "You were wrong," he said simply, meeting the man's eyes with a resolute stare that caused him to cringe slightly. "But you knew that, and that's why you're not evil. You were just scared of Salem winning, so you weren't thinking straight. You stopped thinking with your Heart, and started thinking with your very scared head." Sora gestured at himself with a thumb and grinned widely. "Hey, it even happens to the best of us."

Ozpin smiled at that. "Well, I suppose it does," he agreed. He shrugged before finishing off his coffee, then tapped his cane on the ground reflexively. "It all began some twenty odd years before the Keyblade War, with a young and kind woman running away from some thugs..."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"Father, you have been crying ever since we began applying my new Synth-Skin," Penny said as her father continued to apply the fake skin to her arms. She was clothed now in her usual attire, the skin beneath the battle dress having been applied first so she could cover up as quickly as possible. After that had been her face, though she still lacked the copper-orange locks of hair that usually graced her head. Ruby had snickered at her friend and said she looked weird without eyebrows. Penny had demanded a mirror, and had immediately begun to laugh at the same odd sight adorning her face, though she wished for the hair atop her head to be returned as soon as possible. "Why?"

The blurry eyed Doctor Polendina smiled at his doctor, though the tears did not stop. "I am just so very happy, Penny," he explained kindly to his daughter. "I was worried I would never see you again before your friend came to me."

"Ruby is a great friend," Penny agreed with wide eyes, the movement of her brow up and down made odd by the lack of eyebrows.

"Oh, stop," Ruby muttered, half embarrassed. But given how she fidgeted, she was not opposed to hearing more compliments from them.

"I had never in my wildest dreams dared to hope you would find such companions, my little girl," the Doctor said. He paused his work and smiled down at his daughter, running a hand over her head. "It makes me so happy for you to enjoy this most human of things." Then he moved his hand back and forth, as if ruffling her hair, and returned to his work. Tears kept streaming from his eyes as the layer of skin being created approached his daughter's hand.

"How long until Penny is," Ruby's voice took on a tone even more cheery than usual, "'Combat Ready!?'"

Penny smiled and nodded vigorously at her father. "Yes, Father. When will I be combat ready?"

The old man raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Ruby and I conversed on the subject, Father," the android began simply, "and I will be accompanying her and her friends."

The rotund man stood up defiantly for a moment, then shook his head and sat down. "And here comes the aspect of you making such friends, Penny, that I both regret and love," he said with a heavy sigh. He finished up applying the synthetic skin to her arm and pushed the machine away so he could reach for another. He moved on his rolling stool and positioned it at his daughter's scalp. He wrapped a strap around her chin and rolled down a visor that rested over her eyes and brow. "Independence."

"But you designed me to be independent and to grow, Father," Penny said over the quiet whir of the machine that covered her skull. "It confuses me why my acting like that would worry you?"

"Not worry. I regret it even while I treasure it," Doctor Polendina explained. He rubbed his face with his sleeve to wipe away his tears.

Ruby bit her cheek. This was probably what had gone through her father's mind when she had run off to save the world. She wondered if she should apologize for it. Not for leaving, of course. But for disappearing without saying good-bye. "Any good father wants his children to grow, but it still makes us sad when they become strong enough to walk on their own. It means we've done our job... but now we aren't needed anymore," Doctor Polendina said, cutting through Ruby's thoughts.

"Oh, don't be silly, Father. I'll always need you!" Penny shouted, eliciting a laugh that the Doctor tried and failed to stifle. The machine's whine slowly disappeared, and the doctor moved it from where it rested. "How do I look, Ruby?"

Ruby smiled at the android's copper hair. "Combat ready," she said, giving Penny a thumbs up.

Doctor Polendina sighed and nodded. "Yes. You are," he said before placing his hand on his daughter's shoulder so he could look into her eyes. "I could not stop you from going even if I wanted to, could I?"

"Of course not, Father. You told me I was supposed to help protect the people of Remnant, so that's what I'm going to do." Penny jumped from the table she had been resting upon and placed one hand on her hips and the other into the air above her. "I'm ready to do that!"

"I had no idea that I could be quite so proud of you until now, Penny," Doctor Polendina said. He looked over to Ruby and nodded. "You better keep my little girl safe, Ruby Rose. She is all that I have, so bring her home alive."

Ruby looked between Penny and the Doctor before meeting his steely gaze. "I'm planning on it. Everyone's going to survive."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Jaune Arc had finally returned, a battle of defiance and submission raging behind his blue eyes. His coat was frayed slightly at the edges, the only sign of his trip to destroy the DISC. He had a layer of dirt encrusted all over the surface of his boots and needles of pine wedged beneath the plates of armor that rested on his coat. Strapped to his belt was a trapezoid of metal with a blue handle, the weapon that Sora had made once Salem had taken his weapon. It would seem that she had underestimated the connection between Jaune and those she had influenced him to betray. The woman narrowed her eyes at Jaune, and the force of her gaze seemed to make his own eyes fall to the ground in fear.

"I have to admit, I had not expected you to act quite so brazen," Salem admitted. She clasped her hands together at the small of her back and began to walk slowly around the young man. His fists clenched as she did, the sign that he was waiting for her to attack him. To undo him completely. She had considered it, there was no point in denying it. "I probably should kill you." He turned around and raised his Keyblade reflexively. She ignored it and continued to walk around him.

"I won't, of course," she stated. The weapon in his hands dipped slightly. "You have your uses even still, Jaune Arc, my loyal traitor. You returned just as you promised you would." The Keyblade clanked as it rested at his side in one hand. "And yet, as I said, you acted so very brazen in defying me."

"I didn't do anything that you told me not to do," Jaune protested.

"But you did things you knew I would not allow, didn't you? You betrayed my desires, if not my commands." She stopped circling the young man and turned to face him directly. Her dark eyes narrowed and her hands unclasped to fall to her sides. There was a quiet ding, and the area surrounding the two of them glowed brightly with a shining square of power, and Jaune immediately knew he was trapped. He was barely capable of raising his Keyblade in time to block the attack that Salem had launched herself into. The blow rattled his entire form, and he felt himself begin to slide backwards through the Dust-infused dirt when the woman continued to push against him.

"You are far too independent for my liking, Boy," Salem snarled before shoving once more and sending the young man tipping over. He reached out with one hand and used it to flip back up to his feet just in time to see the Kingdom Key rushing horizontally at his skull. He moved quickly just past the attack's reach, the air in front of his throat whistling as the weapon cleaved through it. He jumped away from Salem to put distance between them then readied himself for battle. Salem did not follow suit for a moment, instead opting to stand straight up. "As I said, I will not kill you, Jaune. I will simply lock away the parts of you that I do not need."

Jaune's eyes widened in fear and he subconsciously placed a hand on his chest. "You're what?" he breathed.

Salem didn't bother responding again. She simply disappeared and reappeared behind him, weapon held in a backhand grip that she used to quickly swipe at Jaune's skull again. He raised his weapon at an angle, letting the blow glide over his head and helping him turn with the attack so he could land a blow to Salem with his fist. But, by the time he was ready to unleash said blow, she had already jumped away and reset their battle. Jaune gulped nervously at the thought of how incredibly outclassed he was. Was this how Cinder Fall had felt before their battle? His thoughts were cut off when her blade struck out once more.

Jaune growled and threw his hands out to either side, causing the Keyblade he held to flash with Darkness and change shape into a shortsword and shield. He deflected the attack with his shield while simultaneously stabbing at Salem's throat. She easily maneuvered out of the way and elbowed Jaune in the temple as she spun. The warrior was dazed for a moment and stumbled to the side, where he received a kick in his midsection that sent him crashing into the wall furthest from where they battled. The energy crackled and sparked violently as he hit it, and Jaune shouted out in pain, only to hit the ground and give a quieter groan. "Of course, that does not mean I cannot have fun with you before I rid you of your desire to betray me." Jaune looked up and saw that Salem now stood above him. He struggled to get to his feet and raised his shield defensively above him.

Salem snorted and shook her head derisively. "If that is what you want," she said with a shrug. Then she raised her Keyblade above her head in both hands and rained down a flurry of the most powerful blows she could muster on the young man's shield. It rattled mightily with every blow, and he tried as hard as he could to resist the force that ran through his arms. He dropped the short sword and placed his other hand upon the back of the shield so he could resist the attacks. It was a pointless endeavor, but he still did it knowing that she would soon either break through his defenses or merely go around them.

It was the previous that occurred first, blade crashing into his shield so hard that his arms buckled and the metal slammed into his forehead. Jaune's body gave out and his face crashed into the dirt. The shield bounced and rolled away from him before disappearing concurrently with the shortsword. Jaune groaned and tried to rise to his hands and knees, only to be stopped by a foot atop the back of his neck that forced him back to the ground. "You are stupid to continue your struggle, Boy," she spat. She lifted her foot and kicked him. Jaune rolled across the ground a short way, coming to a stop on his back.

Jaune took slow, heavy breaths as she approached him. He had to move! He had to fight! Yet, he found that his body wasn't listening to him at the moment. It screamed and wailed against his every thought, like a machine broken by abuse. Which, he supposed, it was. "You destroyed DISC. But that I could have forgiven. It was useless, it had played its part in the grand scheme of things," she said as she walked towards the young man's prone form. "And doing so saved Ozpin and his students. I appreciated that, even. Killing them with my own hands will be much more rewarding than allowing an underling to try their hand at it once more." She stopped above him and let the Keyblade rest upon her shoulder. "But I could never forgive that you went out of your way to save and defend a Keyblade Wielder. Sora. You made sure he survived, you did not destroy him even knowing that his re-emergence would create the only plausible threat to my plans. I had no idea he could even manage to summon that Keyblade. I thought it destroyed, and yet he did it. He killed my Dragon, and now he and the girl together pose a great threat to me." She raised her weapon to Jaune's throat and thought, if only for the briefest moment, of killing him and ignoring her plans. It would bring her some small amount of satisfaction, if nothing else. The blade drifted above Jaune's chest when she thought better of it.

Jaune shut his eyes in fear before opening them defiantly. "I didn't betray you, and they may never be my friends again... But I'd betray you now even knowing that!"

"I know. You can only keep a bright Heart in the Darkness for so long, Jaune." Then the blade of the Kingdom Keeper glowed with an aura of both Darkness and Light... and was thrust into the young man's chest.

Jaune cried out in pain and rage as the blade phased through his armor and flesh to cut deep into his Heart. He could hear parts of himself being locked away, the brightest of his Lights being made invisible by walls of impenetrable steel. The young man panicked as he tried desperately to stop this, to resist it. He heard a familiar voice telling him it would be okay before the last wall rose and everything fell silent.

Salem took a step back from where the young man lay, and dismissed her weapon. She waited patiently for what felt like many long minutes before the young man stood up. He remained stock still, hair a curtain that hid his eyes as he stared at the ground. "Well?" Salem finally asked. His eyes rose to meet hers, and they were a burning yellow. Salem allowed herself a small, triumphant smile. "That's what I thought."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"OH! I can't wait for you to meet Sora!" Ruby shouted to Weiss and Nora, bouncing up and down on the docks as their private ship from Atlas to the strip of shoreline in Vacuo that Ozpin had designated. It was near the equator of the world, and thus much warmer. Ruby liked the winter and all, but she would be glad to get away from the frozen top of the world and somewhere nicer before their final, climactic battle with the queen of Darkness, evil, and all things generally not fun. And Jaune, but she hoped she could give him the Wayfinder and help bring him back to his senses. "You'll love him! Especially Weiss. He's a lot like me!"

The heiress glanced at her partner with half lidded eyes. "Joy," she muttered before crossing her arms. "Another dolt."

"I was unaware dolt meant something good, friend Weiss!" Nora announced eagerly.

"It doesn't – oh, forget it," Weiss grumbled.

Qrow snickered as he watched the exchange going on across from him. Even though Ruby was such a silly little kid sometimes, she was somehow finding herself playing the street smart mentor to a completely naive girl. He'd never have guessed it would happen like this. "Ruby looks incredibly confident, Qrow."

The Huntsman turned, hands in his pockets, to talk with Ironwood. "Well, she can beat me in a fight. You can't even do that, Jimmy," he responded with a smirk.

General Ironwood shook his head, amused by the man's actions. "I'm sorry that you had to deal with all this, Qrow. I wish our problems did not have to be yours, too."

"Wow, Jimbo. That almost sounded like respect!" Qrow said. He elbowed the man in the robotic arm and grinned. "And for little old me, too? I'm flattered."

Ironwood simply smiled again. "I'll meet you there in a few days. I should be able to get an army of men and war droids together to help," Ironwood stated as he let his gaze drift out and into the horizon.

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "I... didn't ask for that."

"Didn't have to. Winter's friends don't have to," Ironwood explained with his own smirk. He looked around for a second. "Where is she, anyways? I thought for sure she would come to see you off."

Qrow shrugged and looked at the ground around him morosely. "I, er... Ice Queen's got a lot on her plate right now. She's got a family to keep from going crazy, so I get it. And a company that employs almost everybody through subsidiaries. Ol' Jacques may not have been born a Schnee, but he was damn good at making their family indispensable." He fell quiet for a while before looking over at Ironwood to say, "Still..."

Ironwood laughed once, a loud and echoing noise. "Never thought you'd be lovesick for an Atlesian Specialist, eh, Qrow?" he joked.

"I'm not some lovesick puppy," Qrow growled. "It's... hell, maybe I am. You'd know better than anyone, wouldn't you?"

Ironwood ignored the obvious joke about his feelings for Glynda. "What do you think Oz has planned?"

"Two kids kill the wicked witch? Hell if I know, Jim. If nothing else, I bet it's good," he replied.

"I'd drink to that if you hadn't stopped."

Qrow laughed at that. "I could still drink you under the table, Tin Man."

"I could use it. Brain's getting rusty from all the work."

"I swear, could your jokes be any worse, kids?" Qrow and Ironwood turned to see Argent Arc approaching with a small smile on his face. "Feathers, Major Metal."

"God, remind me again how you managed to get married with a sense of humor like that," Qrow said.

Argent shrugged. "Good luck and a wife with an actual sense of humor."

"Bad sense of humor, more like," Ironwood whispered to Qrow, eliciting laughter from the man.

When Qrow calmed down, he sighed and looked over to Argent again. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm coming with you, obviously. Jeez, I knew your sister was the smart one, but I didn't think you were stupid, Qrow," Argent joked. Qrow rolled his eyes. "Look, now that you and those kids resolved everything here, my mission's over. I'm due for some leave, anyways. Figured this might be fun."

"Preventing the apocalypse? Fun?" Ironwood asked.

"He just wants to save his kid," Qrow said without taking his eyes off of Argent. "Right?"

Argent shrugged. "That's... Yeah, that's the big reason," he admitted before looking down. Shame danced across his features. "I didn't believe in Jaune. At all, God, not at all. And he proved me wrong. I need to tell that boy I'm proud of him. Even if I only get to do it once."

Qrow placed his hand on the older man's shoulder. "They didn't put the Council to death. No matter what, Blondie'll make it, too."

"I suppose I should thank you, Mister Roboto," Argent told the general.

"Ozpin argued the hardest for it," the man deflected. He looked down at a watch on his wrist and grunted. He looked up and nodded at the two men with him. "I should be going. Preparations to make." He said a quick farewell and left shortly thereafter, leaving Qrow and Argent alone.

"You really think it'll be okay?" Argent asked after a while.

Qrow was about to answer when he saw a white limo drive up. The door opened a woman in a fitted white and blue dress stepped out. Qrow smiled. "Stranger things, Silver. Stranger things," he said, patting the man on his shoulder.

Argent rolled his eyes. "Go on, then. Play with your damn Atlesian." But, by then, he was already gone.

"Hi," Qrow said as he stopped in front of Winter. Her dress was all white, save for the single sleeve on her left arm that shifted slowly from white to blue. The woman's hair was done up in its usual bun, though it was much less tight than before. This allowed an odd strand or two of hair to dangle in front of her face, though the slight obscuring of her features did not seem to detract from her beauty at all."You look... Hah..."

She smiled fondly. "Thank you," she said simply. She placed a hand on his arm and nodded. "And not only for the compliment. I have appreciated your support, Drunkard."

"Someone needed to melt your Heart, Ice Queen," he responded with a grin. The both of them blushed slightly and looked away from one another.

"I will miss you, Qrow," the woman said.

"Good. Means you'll be happy when I come back," Qrow responded. He stepped towards Winter so their faces were nearly touching. He smiled. "I'll miss you, too."

Winter leaned forward slightly and Qrow breathed in apprehensively. Winter's lips never met his, however. "Good. That means you'll come back." She let her lips lightly touch his cheek before backing away and placing her hand on his chest. "Promise?"

Qrow smiled at the woman before getting an idea. "Tell you what, hold onto this for me," Qrow said. He reached up to his neck and took off the dangling cross from his throat. He moved it slowly to Winter's neck and let it hang on her neck. As he let his hands linger at her neck and shoulders. "There, it's like I'm never leaving."

"Drunkard."

"Ice Queen." He let himself be pulled into a kiss that was all too brief, then let himself be pushed away.

"I need to say goodbye to my sister."

"It's good of you to let her be the one to go out there. I know you don't want to work at Schnee Dust."

"Someone needs to do it," Winter said over her shoulder.

Qrow nodded. "I guess someone'll have to keep you company while you deal with the job, then." Winter blushed and smiled as she turned away, then walked over to her sister. "See ya soon, Ice Queen."

"Well, aren't you two adorable," Argent mocked as he walked over.

"Shut up. People who met their wife by opening with the line, 'Argent Arc, hot stuff. Care for more hot stuff?' don't get to comment on anyone else's relationships."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Emerald and Mercury were hiding out together from Neo's men in Vale. The crazy ice cream girl was still working for Salem, and apparently their little 'defection' was worthy of being punished at the very least. They doubted Salem really cared, but that didn't stop her from sending Neo to kill them. So far, they'd done a good job of escaping her, but it probably couldn't happen forever. As it stood, this was one of their first quiet moments since she started chasing them down. Which, of course, meant Emerald was going to start asking questions. "So..." Emerald began from the window out of which she was looking.

Mercury raised his eyebrow. "'So...' what?" he asked despite knowing very well what this was about. He was laying on the couch of the room, his eyes locked on a single spot of the ceiling.

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Emerald snapped, earning an amused smirk from Mercury. "What the hell was that stuff you used to save us? Xehanort didn't teach us any of that stuff before kicking the bucket!"

Mercury laughed dryly. "Um... Well, he didn't teach _you_ any of that stuff before kicking the bucket," he said. He offered her a mocking grin. "And I know that has to disappoint the teacher's pet in you."

"Shut up," Emerald snapped, and he did; his mouth immediately shut. She was actually angry about this. "Why didn't you use it to do something, dammit?"

"When?!" Mercury snapped. He surged to his feet. "When and what would I have done?"

"You could've saved Cinder!" Emerald growled. She stomped her foot and pointed at him. "Why didn't you do a goddamn thing?!"

"Like _what?_!" he shouted, raising his hands to shoulder level before letting them slap against his thighs. "In case you hadn't noticed, we were taken out at full strength by Keyboy, and Salem makes him look as scary as the kiddie ride at an amusement park!"

"We could've tried something," Emerald huffed.

"And fucking died maybe." Mercury sighed and ran one hand through his hair. "Look, Greenie, do you know how hard it was to keep that blast from breaking through my shield and killing us? Really. Goddamn. Hard. Like, if you hadn't gotten us out of there when you did, we would've _died_. Painfully. So, tell me exactly how I could've helped keep Cinder Fall, who by the way told us she was more than willing to kill us if she felt like it, from dying."

"We... we could've tried, right?"

"Okay, let me put it this way. Say... I'd been the one about to be killed by Salem. Do you and Cinder try to stop it?" he asked.

"I would," Emerald said simply.

Mercury snorted. "Don't lie."

"I'm not." Emerald looked indignant at what he'd said.

"Yeah, sure," he responded with a roll of his eyes. He gestured at Emerald. "Look, we need to come up with something to do, okay? I'd rather not hide out until the world ends."

Emerald shook her head and stated, "It's not going to end."

"Keyboy may have killed the dragon, but that doesn't matter if he can't even make it to fight Salem," Merc pointed out before falling back to sit on the couch. "Only way to get there is through portals of Darkness, and he can't make those."

"No, _he_ can't _..."_ Emerald muttered, a small smile coming to her face.

"Oh, hell no. I know that stupid smile. You want to do something stupid!" Mercury growled. He shook his head vigorously. "Uh-uh. We're going to wait this out so we can die in peace."

"Then why even bother saving our lives?" Emerald pointed out. "It was dangerous and stupid if we're just going to die anyways."

"Dammit, why did you have to point that out?" Merc snarled under his breath. He shook his head and looked up at Emerald. "Keyboy would never trust us. It's stupid. You're stupid. No. Nuh-uh. Stupid. Moron. You're making me look smart!"

"Oh, come on. Keyboy's into that whole 'everyone can be redeemed' thing."

"We don't want to be redeemed!" Mercury scoffed. "He knows one thing about both of us – we _like_ killing. It's fun."

"But he also knows we'd rather not die. And Ozpin'll be there to smooth the whole thing over," Emerald pointed out. "Enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Neither of us knows what friends are. That's Keyboy's thing, isn't it?"

"Exactly," she pointed out. "He'll love our help."

Mercury roared angrily, surging to his feet and kicking the couch hard enough to cut it in half. He took a few deep breaths before turning around and running his hands through his hair again. "Fine. You're not going to let this go, so fine. Let's go hang out with Ruby Rose and her band of sickeningly good friends."

"Not even that is going to change my mind... but nice try. It almost did," Emerald said.

"Fine. Let's just get this stupid shit over with," Mercury growled. He waved his hand to open a portal between them before pointing at Emerald. "But if we die because of this, I'm blaming you."

Emerald rolled her eyes. "So scary," she said before walking through the portal.

Mercury stood still for a moment. "I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?" he asked the air. There was no response, so he just sighed before following Emerald through the portal. "It's still stupid."


	37. Final Respite

_**Chapter 37: Final Respite**_

"Sora!"

"Ruby!"

"Blake!"

"Yang!"

"Sun!"

"Neptune!"

"NORA!" Nora cut in excitedly, crashing through the three pairs of reunited friends hugging on the beach near the docks. They all flew into the air with a loud yelp before immediately crashing into the ground, the sand of the beach exploding upward as they hit all at once. The Berserker laughed loudly as she looked down at the half dazed warriors, then giggled in a slightly insincere apology She looked over at Ren a moment later to see he was quietly laughing along with her, though it was barely noticed by anyone else.

"I'm not hugging you, Oz," Qrow said as the wizard walked out of his transport.

The man rolled his eyes behind his green glasses. "Oh, whatever will I do?" he muttered, affecting the tone of a man insulted.

Qrow smirked and slapped the man on the back. "It's good to see ya," he said as Taiyang walked over. "Right?"

"Yeah, it is," Tai agreed with a grin. He held his hand out to Ozpin, and the old wizard gave it a hearty shake. "At least if we're all sticking together this time around. No more sending my daughters to one end of the world and me to the other."

"I will attempt to oblige you, Taiyang," Ozpin said with a small smile. He shook his head, amused, then turned towards Qrow again. "I trust that the trial went smoothly, Qrow?"

"Pretty much," the Huntsman said with a shrug. "Council and Schnee got the guilty verdict. Obviously."

"Obviously," Ozpin agreed simply. "And James? Did he follow through on our decided punishment?"

"Yeah. Yeah, he did," Qrow stated. He shrugged. "Never let him know that I said this, but he's not that bad."

"Oh, come on, Oz. Just ask about his little _girlfriend,"_ Tai said mockingly. He poked Qrow in the ribs with his elbow. Qrow tried to ignore him. "Hey, don't give me the _cold_ shoulder!"

"I'm starting to hate you," Qrow told his brother in law.

"Ooh, it's like a wintry wind showed up."

"Like, _really_ hate you," Qrow growled.

"Professor Ozpin!?" The wizard looked up and caught sight of a blonde man looking at him with wide, albeit happy eyes. Argent Arc jogged towards the three men and grabbed the wizard by the shoulders. "Wow, when Qrow told me you were alive, I didn't really believe him until now!"

"Mr. Arc," Ozpin noted with a smile. He brushed Argent's hands from his shoulders. "It's been too long."

"Yeah, yeah... So what's this I hear about an alien? Where is he?" Argent asked, patting Ozpin's shoulder and looking around. He looked down at the kids laughing on the beach and then back at Ozpin. "Is it one of those kids?"

"He's the one with brown hair spikier than a pineapple," Qrow explained dryly.

Ozpin smiled at that before calling out to the young man: "Sora! Come here!"

The Keyblade wielder's head snapped towards Oz and he jogged over, jumping the last ten feet to land softly beside them. "What's up, Oz?" Sora asked as he glanced over at the other faces. He raised one eyebrow when he caught sight of Argent's surprised glare. The blonde was slackjawed, and his eyes were almost as wide open as his mouth.

"How'd a scrawny little kid like you jump that far?" he shouted in surprise.

Sora grinned. "Keyblade," he supplied simply. He held his hand out. "I'm Sora!"

The blonde warrior coughed and stood up straight, composing himself as quickly as he could. He cleared his throat, saying, "Jeez. Never thought I'd be this freaked out by a kid." He held his hand out and, for the third and final time, Sora saw the individual in front of him replaced with a silhouette. It was another one of the shapes Sora had seen in Jaune's Heart, what now seemed an eternity ago. The shape was unmistakable, and Sora could almost see a thin silver line that surrounded the man. "I'm -"

"You have to be Jaune's dad!" Sora shouted excitedly, grabbing onto the Knight's hand and shaking it excitedly. "It's nice to meet you! Are you going to help us get him back, then?"

"Y-yes," Argent supplied lamely, more than a little struck by the young man's enthusiasm. He began to laugh in a combination of nervousness and Sora's infectious enthusiasm. Argent nodded and let go of Sora's hand, head turning towards Qrow. "I think you might have undersold his enthusiasm."

"I think it's impossible not to," Qrow said, placing his hand on top of Sora's head and ruffling his hair.

"Hey!" Sora protested, super annoyed by it. He brushed Qrow's hand away before crossing his arms and glaring at the Huntsman. "Stop that, Qrow!"

Qrow did as requested and smirked down at the young man, the look grating on his nerves. So he decided to get back at the man. He looked up and smiled, too. "So, I haven't had a lot of time to talk to Ruby, yet... But she did mention that you've got a girlfriend. Come on, tell us everything!"

Qrow palled even as Argent began laughing mockingly. "I don't need all this mocking from a kid who couldn't figure out his own feelings without being threatened," Qrow retorted, then he looked over at Argent. "And like I said, you can't comment about anyone's relationships, Arc."

"Oh, is he like Jaune, then?" Ren asked as he and Nora approached. He looked up at the man. "I'm guessing he introduces himself to women as 'Argent Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, and ladies _love_ it?'"

Argent stopped laughing. "And who are you two?" he asked the giggling Nora and smirking Ren.

"Did Jaune not write about us at all!?" Nora shouted indignantly.

"He never wrote at all." Argent smiled sadly and crossed his arms. "So, if I remember from the Vytal Festival, you guys are his team mates. I don't remember your names at the moment, but you can call me Argent." He held his hand out to Ren.

The young man shook it and nodded. "Lie Ren. This is Nora Valkyrie," he said as he let go of Argent's hand. He gestured at Nora, who was humming to herself. "And yes. We were members of Team JNPR with your son."

Argent smiled sadly. "It's good to meet you. I'm glad my son made friends who are willing to go through so much for him," he said. His hand rose and he rubbed the back of his neck, a move filled with self-loathing and shame. "He deserved someone believing in him."

Everyone grew quiet at that. Finally: "Well, don't let us old men keep you from having fun. Go on, we have things to talk about," Ozpin said with a kind smile. He nodded towards the beach, where Ruby was screaming in excitement at her team being reunited. She was currently jumping up and down with her hands around their shoulders, shaking the three girls violently with her Keyblade-enhanced strength while Penny watched in excitement. Sora nodded and jogged off with Ren and Nora at his heels.

"Where are we on finding a way onto the island?" Ozpin asked, eyes fixed on Sora and the others.

"Good news, we have no clue. Oh, wait, that's the bad news," Taiyang stated. He groaned. "And there is no good news, yet."

Meanwhile, Sora and the others were on the beach once more. "Oh, I'm just so excited that Team RWBY is all together again, Weiss!" Ruby shouted to the annoyed looking girl with white hair. Weiss flinched from the intensity of the scream that rang out right next to her ear.

"We all are, Ruby, but can you let us go!?" Weiss shouted back over Ruby's intense squeals of joy. Weiss began to make choking noises as Ruby's grip instead tightened. "Please! You're choking us to death!" Even Yang was starting to look a little blue in the face and began to pull at her sister's arm.

"Oh, fine," Ruby muttered before letting them go. She pouted. "No fun."

She perked up, however, when Sora began walking over. "Sora, it's time to properly introduce you to some people," she said. She dashed over to him in a flurry of rose petals before dashing back to the others with him in hand. Sora tumbled across the ground, unused to being _moved_ at such speeds. He pushed himself up and had to spit out the sand that had filled his mouth.

"I'm overwhelmed by awe," Weiss noted dryly.

"Right?" Ruby asked, not catching the dripping sarcasm in her partner's voice.

Sora didn't notice it either, oblivious as he could be at times. He may have grown up a bit, but – thankfully – some things never change. "Thanks, but I haven't done anything yet," he pointed out with a sheepish grin on his face. He held out his hand. "We kinda met already on that call, but it's good to meet you in person, Weiss. Ruby says you're pretty great."

"R-really?" Weiss asked. She glanced over at Ruby and smiled fondly. "Idiot..."

"Love you too, Weiss!" Ruby shouted. She hugged her friend again before flying past the heiress and bringing another young woman back with her a half moment later. She positioned the copper-haired girl in front of Sora and gestured at her with both hands. "And this... is Penny!"

"Sal-U-Tations!" Penny shouted, swinging her arm in front of her like a good natured child as she did.

Sora laughed. "Sal-U-Tations!" he greeted back with a huge smile on his face, not a hint of insincerity in his voice.

Penny laughed excitedly at his greeting. "I must say, I was excited to meet the boy about whom Ruby has told us so much!" she said. She leaned in towards Sora and whispered, "When she speaks of you, her voice rises more than one octave."

Sora grinned at the blushing warrior. "Even I can pick up on that one," he said, which only caused her blush to deepen further. He brought her into a side hug. "I think mine does too."

Sora looked back over at Weiss and smiled kindly. The heiress smiled back for a moment before growling to herself and letting her gaze fall to the ground. "I'm...," she muttered. She looked up at Sora again and sighed. "There's no excuse for the fact you were nearly atomized, and you have the formal apologies of the remaining Schnee Family."

Sora blinked once then looked over at Ruby. "What did she say?"

"I don't really understand her most of the time, either. Just smile and nod," Ruby supplied with a shrug.

"Idiots! I was saying sorry that my father tried to kill you!" Weiss shouted angrily. Apparently, Ruby hadn't been joking when she said Sora was a lot like her...

"Oh! Then why didn't you just say it like that the first time?" Sora inquired earnestly. Weiss growled to herself again before turning the frustration in her gut to laughter. Sora looked at her in confusion for a moment before joining in.

"Oh, you're just like Ruby, aren't you?" Weiss said after calming down. She shook her head and gestured at him. "So, come on, we haven't seen your new weapon yet. Show us!"

Sora nodded and let go of Ruby. "Okay, ready?" he asked everyone, receiving a few nods. He shut his eyes for a second, then clenched his fist and summoned the Master Keeper to his hand in a brilliant flash of Light. He opened his eyes and swung the weapon over his shoulder with a grin. "Ta da! What do you guys think?"

"It's just weird to see you with any weapon other than the Kingdom Key," Ruby noted bluntly as she basically tore the weapon from Sora's hand. She tossed it from hand to hand and began to spin it around her body in intricate movements, suddenly reminding Sora of the first time he had done this with her. She was no less enthusiastic in her study of the Master Keeper despite the fact that she not only had been around Keyblades for about a year in one form or another, but also that she had one of her own. If anything, it only seemed to fuel her excitement regarding Sora's weapon. "A hilt this square should provide some sort of discomfort due to its edges, but it's almost like the handle is as comfortable to hold as my own weapon's... The blade is round, but we already know that doesn't mean anything... I like the makeup of the guard, too! It's better for catching weapons than the Kingdom Key's was. You see, the edges and segments! It's also a _lot_ longer! You aren't having any trouble dealing with the new reach?"

"Should I?" Sora asked. He shrugged. "I've been switching between different Keyblade lengths for a while, so I didn't really notice."

"Of course," Ruby snorted. She tossed the Master Keeper to her left hand and slapped her forehead sheepishly. "I forgot you told us that already..."

"Ah, my baby sister's acting like a weapon nerd again," Yang said before ruffling her little sister's hair just to annoy the girl.

"Sora was using that weapon with the skill of a master swordsman within seconds of gaining it," Blake pointed out. "He destroyed all of the Grimm in Beacon and Vale's capital with a single blow."

"Wait, I thought that was just a rumor! It's not possible!" Weiss shouted, dumbfounded at the idea. She looked over at Sora; he was _a lot_ like Ruby, weird and childish but skilled beyond belief. "You're telling me that was true?!"

Ren was the one to answer that question: "We saw it happen. It was not the most impressive thing we have seen him do as of yet."

Weiss looked at Ren. "Hm... It would appear that I need to hear whatever stories it is you guys have about him," she said, straightening up and acting like her usual, collected self. She waited for a moment and the calm mask dropped. "Come on, guys!"

Ruby snorted. "Fine... Well, when we were on our way to Haven, he blocked an attack that left a mile wide crater in the ground! Oh, or how about -"

"NO!" Ruby turned to the source of the voice and found Yang on her knees, hands over her eyes as if crying. Everyone else glanced at each other momentarily, then back at Yang. Then back at each other, then back at Yang.

"Um... Yang?" Blake asked, not worried at all. This had to just be some dramatic –

"I forgot something super important!" Yang shouted. She surged to her feet and pointed at her sister with one hand and Weiss with the other. A manic and a maybe a little evil smile was on her face. "And what you guys were talking about reminded me of what it is!"

"W-what?" Ruby asked. She started to shrink away from Yang's devilish grin.

Yang's hand drifted from Weiss to Sora. "You two haven't had a duel at full strength, yet!"

Ruby let out her breath. "Oh, that's it?" Her voice was relieved that there wasn't some real problem.

"Really?" Sora groaned. He crossed his arms and dismissed the Master Keeper from Ruby's hands at the same time.

She shot him a dirty look for taking the weapon away. "And?"

"Come on, Keyboy, _please_?" Yang begged. She jumped on her sister's shoulders and raised one hand to the sky. "Let's see the crazy fight we've been waiting for! Who's with me!?" Yang looked around at the others, her smile faltering. "Oh, come on!"

Blake sighed and raised her left hand. "Banzai," she muttered, conceding defeat. "I do want to see this fight, if only to see what we're getting ourselves into."

"Hah! Knew you'd come through!" Yang shouted. She turned away, then back to Blake. "But it doesn't make up for trying to steal the blonde look, Blake." The cat Faunus rolled her eyes.

Weiss raised her hand next. "Fine. It will at least give us something to do."

"We even got the boring one to agree!" Yang said.

"Hey!"

"What about the beach?" Sora tried to protest. He didn't feel like beating Ruby up in a one sided fight. She may have been skilled with a Keyblade now, but he was way ahead of anyone except maybe Salem.

"We'll do that after," Sun said dismissively.

"Or... not at all?" Neptune tried to suggest. That earned derisive laughter from everyone else present, making the blue haired young man appear completely crestfallen. "Yeah, I thought so... Dammit. Ugh, we're in..."

"Yes!" Yang shouted, pumping her fist and nearly causing her sister to topple over from the movement. She pointed at Ren and Nora. "Come on... You know you want to..."

This time it was Ren who couldn't contain himself. "You're right!" he admitted in what was – for him – an outburst. So if it had been anyone else it would have appeared subdued. "We vote yes."

"Ah, everyone except you, Sora. Now you have to do it," Yang said, leaning on top of her sister's head and grinning at Sora.

"Yang... could you get off of me?" Ruby asked.

Yang waved her hand to dismiss Ruby's question. "When Keyboy says yes."

Ruby turned her silver orbs on Sora and gave him the best puppy dog eyes she could. "Please? This is uncomfortable. Her big butt is heavy," Ruby said.

It was Yang's turn to be offended. "Hey! I'm not fat! I'm muscular."

Sora groaned. He was defeated, he knew it. "Fine..." he finally conceded. He grinned, trying to get himself in the fighting mood; he'd been looking forward to some quiet time with Ruby. "But just once."

 _ **R W B Y**_

"We've been hiking for hours, are we almost ready?" Ruby whined as they continued walking. She wasn't wrong; they _had_ been hiking for hours. "Sora! Come on, I'm bored! Can we stop walking?"

Sora laughed and kept walking. They were pretty far from the eastern coastline of Vacuo and had begun to enter the vast desert of the semi-lawless country. "I think we should get just a little further, okay?" he called over his shoulder to the exasperated group he was traveling with. Everyone except Sun looked like they were ready to die of heat stroke. And Sora knew this was nothing compared to Agrabah, so he'd be fine.

"And come on, when else are you gonna see sights like this?" Sun asked. He was back in his old shirt now, a better fit for the warm and arid climate. He gestured with one hand at a huge series of buttes that cut across the otherwise empty landscape. "You don't have anything like this in Atlas or Vale, right?"

"Oh, no. There are no empty wastelands of sand in Atlas," Weiss noted dryly.

"Empty wastelands of ice, though," Yang pointed out to annoy the heiress.

"Shut up," Weiss muttered.

"Okay! This should be good," Sora said as they approached a crevice. He gestured at the rock cliff and turned around. "Ready, Ruby?"

"Finally!" she groaned, summoning her weapon to her hand.

"Uh, maybe you guys should go to the other side?" Ren suggested. He pointed across the crevice. "I've seen what fights between Keyblade wielders look like, and I think that's why Sora led us out here."

"Oh! Yeah, sure. That's why," Sora said hurriedly.

Ren considered these words for a moment before groaning, voice full of disappointment. "You just wanted it to look more dramatic, didn't you?" Ren asked in defeat.

Sora just grinned and rubbed the back of his neck in response. Sora turned and jumped across the crevice in a single bound. He landed and waved at the others. "Why am I surprised?" Ren grumbled as Ruby followed Sora.

"Cause half the time he's smart?" Blake suggested.

"And the rest of the time he's a dolt," Weiss finished. She looked at her team mates. "Remind you of anyone else?"

Sora stared at Ruby and summoned the Master Keeper to his hand. He hefted the ancient weapon to his shoulder and looked around. "So... on a scale of one to one hundred, what percent are we going?"

"Seventy five?" Ruby suggested as she twirled her weapon around her body.

Sora scratched his head with his off hand. "Um... Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good." He moved into his customary stance and grinned. "Count of three?"

Ruby shrugged and entered her own battle stance. She locked eyes with him and Sora knew what was going to happen before it did. "THREE!" Ruby shouted while she turned into a rocket of rose petals and rushed to collide with Sora. He raised his Keyblade just in time to catch her blow and he slid backwards through the sand for about six or seven feet.

"Cheater!" Sora laughed when Ruby became herself again and they began to push against each other. "You're a cheater!"

"You said on three," Ruby joked while she struggled against Sora. He laughed in agreement before slapping the blade lock to the side and slashing at Ruby's midsection. She blocked the attack at lightning speed.

"Boo! Go fast!" Yang heckled.

Sora jumped away from Ruby and reset their battle. "Then let's give the people what they want," he said. "Keep up!" Then he was on her faster than she'd attacked him the first time, throwing Ruby off for a moment. She dashed to the side, narrowly dodging his attack that left a crater in the ground.

"Hey!" Ruby shouted, though she wasn't angry. More... excited. She launched a firaga at Sora and ran just behind it, planning to attack through the gap in Sora's defenses that would appear when he blocked the spell. Sora slapped the spell to the side as he ran towards her as well, sending the explosion of energy across the desert and into one of the buttes. The spell released its power and a chunk of the rock disappeared, the top of the stone teetering on the now too thin region before falling off completely and slamming into the sand. Ruby stabbed forward with her weapon through Sora's defenses, but he slipped just past the attack and hit her with his shoulder. Ruby flew backwards a few dozen feet, flipping through the air until she landed lightly on her feet and dragged through the dirt for a few more yards.

"That was awesome!" Weiss shouted, causing everyone else to nearly jump out of their skin in surprise. She cleared her throat when she noticed everyone staring at her and rectified what she'd said. "I mean... He's actually kind of impressive."

Sora slashed horizontally at Ruby's head and the woman jumped backwards, firing off a series of Blizzard spells as she moved. Sora slashed the spells down and jumped after Ruby. The two of them clashed in the air, their weapons sparking with electricity as they collided. Sora slashed at Ruby's midsection and she used her weapon to shove off of him and just out of the attack's path, then she stabbed at Sora's head. He moved his head to the side to barely avoid it, then slashed upward at Ruby. She began to move, and Sora lunged forward to grab her trailing leg in the teeth of his Keyblade. He spun midair and tossed Ruby at the ground. She landed with a single bounce before correcting herself and watching Sora's path until he landed on the ground. "Come on, you can do better than that!" Sora shouted.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Don't think you've won yet." She ran forward and fired another few Blizzard spells, each of which Sora easily deflected to the ground. He waited until she got close, then swung at her head. She slid beneath the attack, her weapon trailing frost as she passed him. She came to her feet behind Sora and grinned, landing a kick in the middle of his back that sent him tumbling forward. A few Blizzard spells followed him, but he quickly threw up a Reflect wall to keep himself from getting hit while still in the air. He landed a half second later and rolled to his feet. It was at that moment he realized he was still sliding across the ground.

"What the-?" Sora looked down and his eyes widened. So that had been the point of all the Blizzard spells; Ruby had frozen the entire ground around them over with a sheet of ice. He looked up at her and stabbed his weapon through the ice to stop himself. "Clever."

"I try," Ruby responded. She stabbed her own weapon into the ground and placed her feet on the teeth. "And keep watching for more!" A Firaga exploded from beneath the weapon's tip, sending Ruby into the air, where she twisted the blade to the direction opposite Sora. She fired off another spell and flew towards Sora. She raised the sword above her and brought it down to crash into Sora, but he kicked himself away using his weapon as a point of contact and he began to slide across the ice. The Keyblade appeared in his hand with a bright flash of Light, at which point he twirled it above his head to release a cloud of burning orbs that spread across the battlefield.

Ruby's eyes widened as she realized what Sora was doing, but it was too late to stop him. The fireballs collided with the icy ground and exploded, sending a huge cloud of steam and dust into the air to obscure the battlefield. Ruby frowned and raised her weapon above her head. "Wind!" The dust and steam was thrown away by the spell, giving Ruby clarity to look around the desert. Sora wasn't there. She looked up to try and block him but... he wasn't there either!

"Down here!" Ruby looked down just in time to see Sora erupt through the ground. His weapon was in his right hand, transformed into a huge drill he had used to tunnel beneath her. The weapon flashed briefly and became a dagger he used to attack in these close quarters. Ruby leaned out of the blade's way and brought her blade down with a spell coating its edge. Sora placed his own hand on her midsection as he rose towards her blade, bathing his palm in a spell of his own. The two attacks exploded at the same time, and the two Keyblade wielders were thrown away from each other at the same time.

"Okay," Ruby said as she pushed herself to her feet. "Well, time for that one last trick up my sleeve."

"What would that be?" Sora asked with a grin. He swept his weapon out to his right side and it flashed, returning to its natural form. His grin disappeared when Ruby gave her own triumphant one and her weapon flashed with a bright red light.

The blade reappeared in her hand a moment later, no longer the same weapon it had been a moment before. The rods that had run parallel to the blade had unfolded to create a single, long handle. The teeth of the weapon were at the center, the cross forming a secondary handle perpendicular to the primary shaft. The one time guard of the blade had become part of the scythe's head, the coiling rose bush connecting the blade – which looked just like that of her old scythe – to the long handle. Extending from the opposite side of the circle from the blade was a spike made of four colors – red, white, black, and yellow. Her scatter emblem was at the center of the secondary handle's cross-section, the only visible sign of the Keyblade's Heart.

"That, uh, that's a pretty good one," Sora said dumbly as Ruby placed the weapon along her shoulders. He gulped and raised his Keyblade defensively in front of him. "Then... bring it on!"

Ruby launched a Firaga and flew right at Sora with her reborn scythe above her head. He sidestepped the first blow, knowing better than to try to fight with all the leverage that weapon had. "When and how?" Sora asked. He slashed at Ruby, only for her to jump and land on his weapon. She tore hers out of the ground and slashed at Sora again. He tossed his Keyblade away with her still atop it and rolled away, summoning the blade – sans Ruby – back to his hand when he came to his feet.

"Professor Ozpin wasn't only teaching you how to do things, Sora," Ruby said with a smirk. "He told me how a few days before you woke up, but I only just got it. Gotta love hard work!"

"Hmph... you got it faster than I did," Sora muttered. He grinned and rushed her, taking great care to dodge the attacks so quick only Ruby could unleash them. He barely managed to dodge them all, getting more than a little lucky to do so, and slammed his Keyblade into the shaft of the scythe. The sudden force threw the weapon from Ruby's hands, but she grabbed onto the tail end of it before it could escape her fully. She shifted it back into Keyblade form, this time backhand, and brought it around at Sora's head, stopping an inch or two from his temple.

"I win!" she shouted.

Sora raised one eyebrow and looked towards her weapon with his eyes. Ruby frowned and followed with her own. A Reflega hexagon was floating just in front of the blade's tip. He cleared his throat to attract her attention then looked down with his eyes. Again, Ruby followed suit. His Keyblade was at her throat. "Dang it!" Ruby shouted. She dismissed her Keyblade and pouted. "Fine... you win."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Late the next day, everyone was finally enjoying their time off. Weiss had completely warmed up to Sora after his duel with Ruby, clearly appreciating that the stories about his skills and powers were not just tall tales. Even with Ruby, Neptune, Sun, and Blake's testimonials – or seeing it on television – it wasn't the same as seeing him in real life. Even at the 75 percent they agreed on, they had both looked pretty impressive, with the destruction of the butte being the favorite visual of everyone in the audience.

Sora was currently hanging out with the other guys on the beach, playing with a ball. They were all dressed in their swim outfits. Sora was wearing black and red shorts adorned with a checkerboard of crowns. Ren's were green, aside from the huge lotus flower on the outside of his left thigh in magenta. Sun's outfit was just his usual attire, sans shirt. Even Neptune was there, though only because they had agreed to stay as far from the water as they could while remaining on the sand. The blue haired guy was in shorts of the same color as his hair, though Sora seriously doubted they had ever gotten wet. Or that they ever would.

The girls were out exploring the small town they had docked at, enjoying being Team RWBY again for the first time. Well, Team RWBY plus Penny and Nora, but the android and berserker had been eager to tag along on their adventure. "Okay. Favorite Spruce Willis movie?" Neptune asked as he sprinted towards Sora to try and tackle the Keyblade wielder. The game had once just been tossing the ball around, then trying to throw it hard enough for Sora to drop or miss it. At this point, it was the other three guys trying to steal it from him while using questions to distract him.

"I like the one with the ghosts," Sora said as he effortlessly moved past Neptune. "Favorite character is the kid who sees dead people. He's got a good voice."

"Good one," Ren said, appearing out of nowhere to try and kick the ball out of Sora's hand. Sora tossed it straight up, knowing he couldn't pull it out of the way in time, and it soared over Ren's head. Sora grabbed the ninja's leg and tossed him to the ground before grabbing the ball out of the air. Ren rolled to his feet and jabbed for the ball with his left hand. His fingers grazed the top of the ball, but Sora held on. "I prefer _Dust Fiction_."

"What!?" Sun asked. He shook his head. "No way! The one by Setting Scarletino? You like that one?"

"And why is that surprising?" Ren asked, performing a backhand slap for the ball while the Faunus attacked from above.

"That's the one with the... well, the guy... in _that_ suit! And people cursing and getting shot all the time!" Sun explained as Sora dodged between them. "It... it just doesn't seem your speed is all. I was thinking more... I don't know, _Curver_. It's more of a think piece than _Fiction_ is."

"I'm a fan of _Blue_ ," Neptune said as he came up behind Sora and jumped at the young man's legs. "Ha! Got you!" His arms wrapped around Sora's legs and the Keyblade Master yelped in surprise before beginning to tumble to the sandy ground. The ball finally bounced out of his hands and rolled across the ground.

"Dang it," Sora muttered as the ball bounced away. He sighed and pushed himself to his feet, reaching out to Neptune. "And of course that's your favorite."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Neptune asked angrily.

"The hair, Man. Duh," Sun pointed out. He picked the ball up. "Whose turn is it now?"

"Me, losers!" Yang jumped in and stole the ball from the Faunus. She was dressed in a brown terrycloth swimsuit cover zipped up half the way so her yellow bikini top was clearly visible. "Unless you boys are scared of a real woman!"

"Yang," Ruby admonished as she and the others caught up. Sora smiled stupidly upon seeing Ruby in her swimsuit. It was mainly black, save for the blood red floral pattern that appeared across it. She had a towel wrapped around her legs, the material red with a large, silver Scatter at the center of its face.

"Eyes are up there, buddy," the blonde growled at Sora, who swallowed quickly and looked at the sky. Yang laughed internally, amused by the fact she could intimidate someone who could easily beat her in a fight. Yang turned to Ruby. "Oh, calm down. I won't flirt with Keyboy any more than I usually would."

"Hi," Sora said lamely. Ruby looked over. "You look... Heh..." He blushed and clasped his hands in front of himself. "Wow."

Ruby blushed and smiled back. "Okay, okay. Real cute," Yang said, shoving Sora so he fell face first into the ground. "How about all of you couples do something alone so the singles here don't have to watch. I -" She sighed and looked around; all the couples were already gone. "Really? Ruby, no you know what or I'm killing him!"

"What is 'you know what,' Friend Yang?" Penny asked innocently.

Yang's face turned bright red and she turned to the android, who was still in her usual dress. Apparently, until the Synth-Skin was finished solidifying she was supposed to stay out of the water. "Um... Oh, God..." Yang muttered. She didn't want to be the one to tell what was pretty much a five year old about... that. "God help me."

Sora and Ruby watched from beyond the thin, tropical treeline, laughing quietly at Yang. "Friend Yang, I'm still confused!" Penny said when Yang didn't answer. This only elicited more laughter from the pair.

"Ah, it's always fun when Penny's around," Ruby said as their laughter died down. She sat down with Sora and leaned against his shoulder. He, in turn, leaned his head on top of hers.

The two of them sat like this for a while, completely silent and just appreciating their time together. They had barely spent any time around each other since their duel the day before, which had been their first interaction in months. It was nice to just be together instead of fighting for their lives against monsters or demonic witches bent on the end of reality. Finally: "Well, I kept my promise, didn't I?" Sora said with a grin. He took a breath and leaned his head more against Ruby's.

Ruby smiled but didn't open her eyes. "I knew you would." She snuggled into his neck and sighed contentedly. The two returned to their happy silence for a while.

The entire time, however, Sora could feel what he wanted to say burning away in his gut, eating at him. Finally: "Ruby, we need to talk about something important." He stopped leaning on her and they locked gazes.

"Oh, that sounds... scary," Ruby muttered. She bit her cheek. "What about?"

"Your mom."

Ruby let out her breath. "Oh, good," she muttered. Then she frowned. "Well, not _good_ , but better than the bad part of my imagination was picturing." She shook her head. "I'm rambling. So, what is it?"

"If we can, I think we should try to help her."

Ruby looked at him with guarded emotions. "Thank you, Sora," she said cautiously. She didn't want to say the wrong thing here.

Sora raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"It's just that you almost died last time you tried," she pointed out sadly. She looked over at him, fear dancing across her features. "I don't want you to almost die!"

Sora gave her a worried face. "Good point..." He shrugged and said, "I think we'll be able to save her, so if I get a shot I'm taking it. But that's not why I wanted to talk about this. I just wanted to tell you... if it comes down to it and... and we can't save her, like we literally _cannot_ save her without one of us dying... I – Let me do it."

Ruby's eyes widened. "W-what?"

Sora shook his head. "You shouldn't have to, well, you shouldn't have to kill your mom. Even if it is to save the world and free her from Salem," Sora explained. He grabbed onto Ruby's shoulders. "I won't make you do that."

"Sora, that's nice, but I'm a big girl," Ruby pointed out. She placed her hand on his. "I'm ready to deal with the consequences."

"I know that. I'm just telling you that you don't have to."

Ruby smiled. He was a nice guy, wasn't he? "Thanks, Sora," she said before pulling him into a tight hug. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Oh, great, we walked into a love fest." Sora and Ruby looked over at the source of the voice, then jumped to their feet at the same time. Their Keyblades flashed in their hands and they angled the weapons at Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black.

Sora and Ruby rushed them, Sora slashing at Mercury's neck and Ruby at Emerald's legs. The two criminals cringed as Sora and Ruby approached, then jumped apart to avoid the attacks. Mercury rolled to his feet and began trying as hard as he could to avoid the lightning fast strikes Sora was sending his way. The Master Keeper flashed in Sora's hand as it came around again, suddenly switching to backhand grip as Sora's last attack missed. Merc yelped and threw himself backwards, tumbling to his back and watching a few strands of his silver hair drift to the ground. Emerald, meanwhile, had wrapped the chains of her weapons around Ruby's Keyblade and wrenched it from her hands. This didn't do anything, obviously, as Ruby just summoned the blade back to her hand as soon as it flew away. She slashed upward, the attack taking all of Emerald's attention away from a kick that the heroic girl delivered. Emerald snarled as she flipped through the air and landed on top of Mercury, the both of them groaning at the collision. The Master Keeper _clanked_ as Sora lowered it to Emerald's throat, a warning to stay down. Mercury's hands flew up immediately. "Calm down, we're not here to die in a pointless fight with you two!"

"We actually... we actually came to ask for your help," Emerald muttered from on top of him. She rolled off of him, groaning as she did, and raised her hands above her head in surrender as well.

"Help Salem and Cinder? Sure," Ruby noted dryly. She and Sora both took a step back despite their doubts and let Emerald and Mercury get back up to their feet.

"No, you don't understand, Red," Mercury growled. He rolled his eyes and grabbed his boots, tearing off the weapons and tossing them to the Keyblade Wielders' feet. Emerald shot him a glare and he shrugged. "What? I don't know of any other way to say we're definitely not trying to kill them!"

"Fine," she sighed. She gave him another glare. "It's weird for you to be right about things." She pulled her weapons from her back and tossed them to the sand beside Merc's.

Ruby and Sora glanced at each other in disbelief, then back at Mercury and Emerald's expectant faces. "Okay," she finally said. Her Keyblade remained summoned though it drifted down to her side, and Sora soon followed suit with his weapon. Ruby narrowed her eyes on the two criminals and pointed at them. "What did Cinder send you here for?"

"You don't get it, do you? Salem betrayed us!" Emerald said desperately. She ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. "Salem told Blondie to kill Cinder!"

"Jaune murdered Cinder?!" Sora asked worriedly. Vengeance had a way of staining someon'e Heart, making it harder for them to escape the grip of deep Darkness.

Mercury shook his head and said, confused, "No. He almost did, but then he – I don't know why, it was just that he wouldn't." He shook his head. "Not that it mattered. Salem did it the moment Blondie refused."

Sora breathed a sigh of relief and dismissed the Master Keeper. Ruby looked at him, unsure that was a good idea, but she did the same thing anyways. "When was this?"

"Just before the DISC was turned on. We bolted before we could see anything else that happened," Emerald explained.

Sora smiled. "Jaune came and saved me. He's the one that turned off the DISC," he said.

Ruby looked over at him and frowned. "You didn't tell us that."

Sora shrugged. "I wasn't sure it meant anything. I thought that he ran back to wherever Salem is the moment I started to wake up. But if he wasn't listening to her, maybe he didn't go back!"

"Look, not that we're all very happy for you and your friend, Keyboy, but we came here for a reason," Emerald interjected. "None of you can find Salem. And even if you did, none of you could ever get to Salem."

Sora and Ruby nodded. "Oz was worried about that," Sora noted. He shrugged. "But he'll figure it out."

Ruby nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we just have to wait until the Headmaster figures something out."

"Are you two serious..? Never mind, of course you are," Emerald muttered angrily. She pointed at herself and Mercury. "You need someone to take you two to Salem."

"Yeah?" Sora agreed, completely unsure of where this was going.

Emerald and Mercury looked at one another. "God, they're idiots," Mercury said simply.

"We -" Emerald gestured between herself and Mercury again – "are going to take you idiots and your idiot friends to kill Salem."

"It's all her idea by the way," Mercury noted, pointing at Emerald. "For the record, I said it was stupid."

Sora and Ruby looked at one another, then back at Emerald and Mercury. "Okay, but... how do we know we can trust you?" Ruby asked, her Keyblade back in her hand and pointed at the pair.

"And here's why I said it was stupid," Mercury muttered under his breath.

"I think we can trust them," Sora interjected. Mercury and Ruby both looked at him with wide, surprised eyes.

"Why?" Mercury asked. He put his hand up to cut off Sora and shook his head. "I swear to God, if you say 'Because anyone can be redeemed' I will kill myself now."

Sora shrugged. "Fine. It's because we have no other choice," Sora instead pointed out. Emerald pointed at Sora, as if to say 'Finally!' Sora looked over at Ruby's skeptical frown. "Look, we need to get there as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the more likely it is she'll just go after the purest Hearts she can find to fix the **χ** -blade, and then we won't be able to stop her at all. Better now than before she has a way to destroy the universe. Of course... going will give her enough of the things she needs to fix it completely, so we'll only have a little while to stop her..." Sora looked at the sky and laughed.

"Has he gone crazy?" Emerald asked Ruby, but the younger girl just shrugged.

"It's just like Xehanort all over again!" Sora explained, looking around at the confused trio around him. "When I fought Xehanort, he was using us to complete the **χ** -blade, too. I just... It feels like some things never change."

"R...right," Mercury muttered, still not completely sold on teaming up with Keyboy. Well, he had nothing better to do, and at least it would be a little fun to kick some ass. Mercury clapped his hands together. "So, who wants to tell Ozzy we have a key to his ex's place?"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ozpin stared out over the ocean as Ironwood and Doctor Polendina finished talking to the Atlesian soldiers and completing the programming of the war droids respectively. Somewhere out there he would soon be face to face with Salem once again. He could not feel anything regarding this coming battle, not fear, anger, not anticipation for the end. He felt this was because it had yet to truly sink in that everything was happening. If it had not been for the sudden appearance of Mercury and Emerald, this fight may never have come to pass at all. He looked over at the source of the footsteps, then returned his attention to the horizon. "You okay, Oz?"

Ozpin shrugged. "I'm fine," he said simply. "Just trying to let this all sink in."

"Hm," Sora grunted. He looked over at Ozpin and stood silently for a moment. "Qrow said you wanted to see me?"

Ozpin sighed and turned to the young man. "Yes. I wanted to speak with you again, Sora."

"Lay it on me, Oz," Sora said with a soft smile. He laced his hands behind his head and looked out over at the horizon with his eyes closed. Ozpin smiled as he caught sight of the light glancing off of Sora's serene face, the wind ruffling the young man's hair. Ozpin looked back at the horizon as well. Sora opened his left eye so he could look at Ozpin. "Well?"

Ozpin chewed his tongue for a moment, thinking to himself for a while about the question he was about to ask. What would his answer be if confronted with the same inquiry? "What do you think of Mercury and Emerald? Are they trustworthy?"

Sora shrugged. "I want to give them a chance, but I don't think anyone else does," he said. He shut his eye again. "I get it. They did help destroy Vale and they're part of the reason Pyrrha died. On top of that, they aren't good people. I don't even know if they want to be good people." Sora let his hands fall to his side and smiled again. "But they came to try and help us. Even if they don't want to be good people with all their Hearts, there's something in there that is. They wouldn't have come to help at all if they didn't care."

"Perhaps all they care about is survival," Oz pointed out.

"Maybe... but I like to believe in them, Oz. I think, with enough time, they'll surprise everybody," Sora said, sure of it as he gazed out at the sunrise across the horizon. "They're not like Salem; they care about something. All it will take for them to have that happy ending is to be strong enough to find that something."

Ozpin snorted. "What's so funny?" Sora growled.

Ozpin let his mind drift rather than answering. It was an eternity ago, and he was standing in his office. His old office, back in Daybreak Town, not the one that had been crushed to rubble a continent away. He was writing on a piece of paper, the same young and determined face beside him. "But Oz, we need to help them!"

"There isn't much we can do, Skye," he said, his memory playing out in his mind. Ozpin looked up from the piece of paper at the boy's determined glare. "I'm not a teacher."

"Then why did you take me in, why did you teach me?" Skye snapped. He threw his hand across his chest. "Those scholars are basically just going to lock them up like Aliux did! Those scholars are more interested in finding out why the **χ** -blade chose them than actually helping them. Your girlfriend included!"

"She isn't –" Ozpin cut himself off and sighed. "Skye, this is not up for discussion. The scholars will at least provide them food and shelter. Their lives will be real and worth something."

"But not happy!" Skye growled.

"So?" Ozpin asked simply. He shook his head. "Not everyone gets a happy ending, Skye."

"I know that. But they have the strength to make one, if you'd just give them a chance!" Skye shook his head and then looked at the ground. "They all have something out there they care about, someone maybe. They need the chance to find that something."

Ozpin turned to Skye and took a slow, deep breath. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"I'd bet my life that all of them will have a happy ending, Oz," he snapped obstinately. Ozpin smiled at Skye and shrugged. "What?"

"Fine. Fine, I agree."

Ozpin's mind returned to the present, eyes focusing on Sora. "Oz? Oz! Come in, Oz!"

The old teacher looked over at Sora again. "Sorry, I was just... you said something that sounded very familiar to me," Ozpin explained. He shrugged. "I suppose I was just appreciating how you are."

Sora frowned. "How I... am?"

"Nothing bad, I assure you. You're just so optimistic, even for people you've never really met or who have been your enemies. I can't believe an old pessimist like me keeps meeting people like you when I need to the most." Ozpin patted Sora's head, causing the young Keyblade Master to slap at his arm in annoyed retaliation.

Ozpin placed both hands on the top of his cane. He had one last thing to teach Sora, though he supposed it was trivial on the whole. Ozpin explained, "Should she complete the **χ** -blade, Salem will undoubtedly abandon the Kingdom Key. I have never seen a Heart like yours, Sora. You are actually, truly capable of claiming two Keyblades as fully your own. Once she or, possibly, Jaune cast aside their weapons, you should be able to summon either one to your aid. If it is Jaune, you may wield the weapon without fear. If it is the Kingdom Key that is abandoned for something greater, you must remember to unseal the Keyblade from Salem's Heart. Picture that chain, that lock, that ties her destiny to that of the Keyblade... and then you will be able to unlock it and unchain the Kingdom Key from her control." Ozpin's gaze returned to the sky. "I will be at your side as long as possible, but I am not so much a fool as to believe I am the hero of this story. Therefore, Sora, I want to ask one thing of you, even if it is a selfish burden to bestow on anyone else. Especially on you."

"You know that I would do anything for a friend, Oz," Sora assured the man, clapping his hand on the man's back. "Helping the people I care about isn't a burden, it's the best!"

Ozpin smiled. "I give you the responsibility of my happy ending, Sora. If there is anyone in this world who could make my dream of being free of Salem a true reality, I believe it to be you."

Sora blinked twice then grinned as wide as he could. "No problem, Oz," he exclaimed. He gestured at himself with his thumb. "Leave it to me and Ruby, okay? We'll make sure everyone gets a chance at their happy ending!"

Sora took a deep breath put his hands on his hips. The Sun was now barely touching the horizon and was reflected as a pillar across the entire breadth of the ocean. A breeze flew across the ocean and Sora took a econd to appreciate the salty feel of the air against his skin, something that had comforted him since he was a kid. "After all, that's my happy ending."

 **AN: Surprise! At the end of the chapter this time. I think that's how they all will be from here on, seeing as this is the farewell stretch of the story. Maybe they won't, though. I've been known to make decisions on a whim.**

 **This is the last of the break chapters prior to the final battle. This is it – after this chapter, Sora and the others are going to go head to head with Salem. It's been a blast so far and a I'm excited for this last stretch of the game! Thanks for sticking with me for 37 chapters, I can't wait for the last three. Oh, and an epilogue, but that'll just be postscript right here.**

 **If you've never left one before, please leave a review. I'd love to hear everyone's opinions, so far.**

 **Anyways, now for responses.**

 **To warrior of six blades: I'm happy you liked Jaune's fight. I enjoyed writing it and seeing him give it his all despite his inevitable defeat. I really enjoy writing Argent, too; do you think the line sounded enough like Jaune to come from his dad?**

 **To Soul's Release: Thank you! The trial was one of the plot points I'd planned out from the get go so I'm glad it payed off.**

 **To gamelover41592: Welcomed might have been a strong word, huh? I couldn't picture anyone but Sora being willing to actually think they were being real. I mean, they don't even think they're really doing the right thing. Maybe they aren't right now, but eventually... Maybe one day.**

 **To Guest: I'm unsure if I'll do a gag like that. When I get around to the spin off, the main party might end up watching Sora's old adventures in a gag once or twice. The tone of that one will be lighter than this story's is; this one's about persevering through the deepest Darkness, and that one'll be about... well, I don't want to reveal that yet. You'll see soon.**


	38. The x-Blade War

_**Chapter 38: The**_ _ **χ-Blade War**_

Salem raised her hand above her head, forcing the ground beneath her feet to rise towards the sky. It was going to begin very soon, the battle for the Light of the Remnant and, by extension, the eternal future. The arena of battle grew from the Dust infused dirt, purple crystals glowing with evil from the inside. The crystals grew around the **χ** -blade's shattered form, holding it in place. She would need it nearby for when it would become hers completely. She brought her hand down to her side, though she did not stop shaping the world around her. Stairs carved themselves out of the huge block's sides, stretching all the way to the ground a hundred feet below. She turned towards the stairs and saw that at the foot of the stairs stood a young man with blonde hair, the boy with his Heart locked away. Salem waved her hand in front of her, and a dozen explosions of Darkness appeared in the distance, filling up the void of space. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Heartless fell from the blackened skies to form her army. From the ground she pulled a thousand Grimm to stand at their sides, creatures of lesser Darkness she could use to bolster their numbers and distract Ozpin's lowest underlings.

She lowered her hand to her side and clenched it into fist, summoning the Kingdom Key to appear in a flash of brilliant Light. She smiled at the battlefield, excited for what was coming. As much as she wanted to finally claim her victory, she found she almost desired the battle itself more; to destroy Ozpin and everything that he had built over the centuries was not her goal, but it was very sweet icing on the cake. She continued to watch for any sign for the arrival of Ozpin's 'heroes,' and was soon rewarded.

Inky portals of Darkness the size of buildings appeared from nowhere behind the Grimm, and the battle was begun. Then another. A wave of white metal and black glass began to rush from each of the portals, filling the world around Salem with robotic warriors and mech armored soldiers from Atlas. The Grimm roared and rushed the androids, with the androids responding to this violence in kind. Blue lights flashed out from the portals as more and more of the opposing army began to approach. Grimm fell by the dozens, their android enemies. The robots moved to defend the humans amongst them, likely increasing the loss of military hardware at the expense of saving the unskilled humans. It seemed that Sora was rubbing off on Ozpin and his servants, convincing them to prevent death at any cost. Even if it endangered their own odds and risked increasing the Heartless' numbers.

Not that it mattered, she supposed. The droids, the Grimm, the Heartless. They were nothing. The battle between the Atlesians and Salem's own forces of Darkness was merely backdrop to the truly important battles that would rage. Sora and his friends would fight Salem and her slaves, completing the **χ** -blade in the process. Anyone and anything else present during this war was merely a distraction meant to slow down Ozpin's children for a few precious moments when necessary. Salem watched the battle continue as the gateways that had been opened finally shut and the noise of the war entered a crescendo. Still, however, Ozpin and his children did not appear. Salem raised her hand in front of her and boredly summoned a fireball to her hand. "Ozpin, where are you?" she hissed before letting it fly towards a mass of Atlesians. This waiting was getting old.

A ring of burning light came from behind Salem and flew towards the large, black fireball. Salem turned as, simultaneously, a feeling of incoming danger ran through her mind. Her Keyblade was brought around and she held it with both hands to block the Firaga that had been sent her way. It exploded against her weapon, flames cast off in every direction off of the Reflect wall her weapon had summoned. Even as this happened she could hear the swirling disc of light collide with her own attack and nullify it, causing a similarly sized explosion in the distance.

"Finally, you arrive, Ozpin," Salem said. She flicked her weapon out to her side and glared at the group of people that had come together to attack her.

Standing at the front of the group was the boy, Sora. His right hand flashed and the Thief's Keyblade appeared within it, the weapon known as 'The Master Keeper.' He looked confident, powerful, and assured that this fight would be the last time they met. To his right stood the girl with the Silver Eyes. She looked just as determined as Sora, perhaps more so given the fact that Salem was in control of her mother's body. Unfortunately, the sight of the young woman with Keyblade and eyes glimmering with Light had the side effect of eliciting joy in Summer's walled off Heart. Joy that Salem was quick to stamp out as she tightened the chains holding the woman's Heart hostage. Ozpin was at Sora's left, looking as calm and collected as he always did. He was glaring at Salem from behind his green sunglasses, a combination of disappointment and anger in his eyes. His students stood behind him, a girl with a large hammer, a young man in green, a serious woman with white hair, a woman with glowing yellow hair and red eyes, a Faunus girl in black, a boy with blue hair and a gun, a young Faunus with a golden tail and hair, and a man with blonde hair slowly fading to silvery gray. Flanking the group were Ozpin's bird and a blonde man in a brown leather vest. "Well, if it isn't the ragtag group of heroes who've come to stop me." Salem shook her head and raised her Keyblade offensively in front of her. She noticed another two, hiding behind the others. "Ah, and villains. Thank you for bringing me Cinder's children. Hunting them was growing so old."

There was no response to her mocking, save for a lightning fast attack from Sora. His Keyblade crashed into Salem's and the woman felt herself be pushed back a few inches towards the stairs; her shadowy cape flew out from her shoulders, trailing a cloud of Darkness as it fluttered. _This is... odd_ , she thought to herself. Sora was not her equal, and yet it appeared he was a viable threat to her power. If only she had not been so arrogant and allowed Jaune to leave, there would be no threat, small as it may be. Salem shoved the young man off of her and he backflipped to land beside Ozpin and the others again. "No witty repartee this time, Sora?" Salem mocked. She slid her legs apart slightly and steadied herself again. They were testing the waters with one another already. She could not afford to have all of her enemies interfere, however. It was entirely possible that Ozpin and his students may be able to tilt the battle out of her favor by aiding Sora and Ruby.

Fortunately, Salem had a way around that problem.

Salem lashed out with her off hand, summoning an explosion of Sparks that shot towards the group before her. Simultaneously, she moved as quickly as she could manage to make her move. Sora and Ruby together deflected the Sparkga sent their way, and the distraction was successful. Salem appeared behind Emerald with Keyblade raised. "Em!" She brought her Keyblade down to strike the girl, but was surprised when the boy in silver shoved her out of the way. The blow instead collided with him and he was knocked unconscious.

Salem lashed out with her hand to catch the boy by the shirt, then jumped back and held her weapon to her new hostage's throat to ensure she was not attacked. "Now, now... You don't want to me to kill him, do you?" She was sure that they valued his life, the life of the man who had betrayed her and brought them here.

She was no longer sure that was correct. "And?" Yang asked gruffly.

Emerald turned on the blonde and snarled. "Wh-what!?"

"Leave him alone, Salem." Well, at least Sora valued the hostage's life. The others would listen to him. And listen they did; they froze at his words immediately and leveled their glares on Salem. They were hungry for battle.

"No." A doorway of Darkness appeared beneath the feet of Salem's enemies. Sora jumped when he noticed this, trying to attack Salem before they disappeared. Salem scoffed and easily batted him back into the portal with the Kingdom Key. He disappeared shortly after those he traveled with, leaving Salem alone with her hostage. "Hurry, Thief." She tossed Mercury off to the side and raised a cage of Darkness around his form. "I will be waiting."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora tumbled out of the portal with a loud yelp, plummeting towards the ground far below. He saw the others falling below him, towards the battlefield far below filled with Grimm and robots duking it out for supremacy. Sora twisted mid-air and dismissed his Keyblade, allowing him to calmly glide to the ground without interruption. He stopped gliding when he heard Ruby's voice. "DAD!"

Taiyang was currently trapped in a bubble of Grimm and Heartless, the creatures fighting off the others as they moved to save him. He was fighting with one of those huge gorilla Grimm Sora had seen on the eastern coast of Mistral, and it was clear he was not going to win. The monster was the exact wrong kind of creature for him to be fighting one on one, a beast that was built to withstand the brawling techniques he used in combat. That was not going to stop him from trying to kill the monster.

The man's fist collided with that of the Beringel, the blow creating a huge burst of energy that flew out from between them. Taiyang grinned and brought his other fist up, this time catching the Beringel on the inside of its arm. The Grimm's arm flew wide, but no damage could be seen on its flesh and every blow traded seemed to only serve in making it angrier. Taiyang grinned at this and floated beneath a blow from the creature's fist, avoiding the blow by the slightest breadth of a hair. He came to stand straight up outside of the creature's arms and lashed out with his own fist. The creature's arm snapped at the elbow this time, and Taiyang felt the fire of pride erupt in his chest. A fire that was cut off when the monster turned faster than he thought it could and its massive hand crashed into his body.

Sora angled himself straight down as soon as he saw this, willing himself to fall faster. He summoned the Master Keeper and pointed itself behind him, firing off Firagas that would speed him up and rocket him straight towards the Beringel. He wasn't going to let anyone die, not this time. He spun and raised the Keyblade above him when he got close enough, and hit the ground a moment later. There was a massive explosion of dirt and Light that sent Grimm and Heartless flying to their deaths for dozens of yards. When the dust finally cleared, Sora was standing beneath the Beringel with his Keyblade placed on the ground. The Grimm seemed to shudder for a moment until Sora stood up. The creature's body split apart vertically, and its two halves disappeared a moment later. The young man turned and ran towards Ruby and Yang's father.

"Dad!" the two young women snapped, sliding to a stop above their father. Yang bit her lip. "Dad, wake up!" Ruby raised her weapon above her head and cast a cure spell, causing the visible bruising and bloody wounds on the man's body to disappear. He did not, however, regain consciousness.

"Dammit, already?" Qrow growled to himself. He looked over at the pyramid like building of crystal all the way across the battlefield, then turned to Emerald. "Can you get Sora, Ruby, and the others there?"

"I've been trying!" she snapped. She shook her head and took a deep breath. "I... I think she blocked the Corridors."

"Then we're going on foot, it seems," Ozpin stated.

Qrow shook his head and said, "Not me. Somebody needs to stay with Tai and get in touch with Jim. Tell him there's been a change in plans." He looked around at everyone and shrugged. "Someone needs to do -"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Emerald interjected angrily. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at Ozpin. "She has Merc, we need to go!"

"She's right," Qrow admitted after glaring at her for a moment. He crouched and pulled his friend over his shoulders before unclipping his sword from his belt. "I'll take Tai and get him somewhere safe."

"But, Uncle Qrow -"

"Go, Ruby!" he snapped suddenly, cutting off any arguments. Ruby's head fell and she missed Qrow turn around to leave. The man sighed and shook his head. "Ruby, I'll keep him safe, so don't worry about us. You just make sure you stay safe, and I'll catch up as soon as I have Jimmy watching out for him."

"If nothing else, Miss Rose," Ozpin said to the hesitating Ruby as everyone else began to sprint towards the place where Salem waited for them, "this will give Miss Polendina another ally and keep the two of them much safer than if they were with us. Your father is a powerful warrior, but he has always been delicate if his mental state is adversely affected. Seeing Summer's face likely is the cause of this."

"Y-yeah," she muttered, conceding the point to the Headmaster. Her eyes were locked on Yang, which slightly annoyed the older girl. Finally, Ruby took a breath and turned towards the place where Salem waited, steeling herself for the coming battle and forcing herself to . "Let's hurry."

"He'll be okay, Ruby," Sora said when she caught up to him.

Ruby nodded. "I know," she admitted. She still sprinted past him and summoned her Keyblade to her hand, needing to take out her anger on something. She shot herself forward with her Semblance towards the nearest Heartless and sliced it cleanly in two. The monster roared before being consumed by an explosion of fire, a result of the spell the girl with the glowing eyes had coated her blade in before attacking. It made her feel better. She slowed down and came into step with Sora. "He's with Uncle Qrow, after all, so of course Dad will be okay!"

Sora blinked once, then let a huge grin erupt across his face. "You know it!" he agreed, shooting her a thumbs up as they ran.

"Well, aren't you two adorable?"

Ruby groaned. "Yang!"

"Uh, that, um, that wasn't me," the blonde said from behind them. Ruby and Sora looked up and summoned their weapons. They slid to a stop, the others doing the same behind them, and soon found themselves face to face with one Adam Taurus. His blade was drawn and clenched in a shadowy, ever changing fist. Darkness floated from his shoulders and his sneer could have frozen lava with its icy intensity.

"Hello, animals," he said coolly. He twirled his blade and raised it before him. Sora raised his Keyblade and readied for battle, Ruby doing the same at his side.

"No, don't worry about this." A pair of hands pushed the two Keyblades down and Blake forced herself past the two so she could stand between the group and Adam. She drew Gambol Shroud and its sheathe, then entered a battle stance. "Adam is my responsibility, and it is well past time that I dealt with him."

Yang looked ready to protest, but stopped and shrugged. "Whatever. I already got to beat the crap out of the idiot," she said, shrugging.

"But I haven't!" Sun bounced ahead and leaned on Blake's shoulder, grinning mockingly at Adam Taurus. "'Sup, Wackjob Terrorist!?"

Taurus did not let this faze him. "Go," Blake said again. She looked over her shoulder at Ruby. "We have this."

Ozpin was the first one to respond. "Then best of luck, Miss Belladonna," he said, bowing his head slightly. "We will see you when this is all over."

"I'll buy the fish!" Yang grinned, earning a small chuckle from her partner. Yang sighed and grabbed onto her sister's arm, dragging the younger girl along in an attempt to get their momentum up again.

Ruby resisted for a moment before running after her sister. "Do us proud, Blake! We believe in you!"

"Destroy that scoundrel," Weiss finished for the team.

Neptune waited a moment. "Um... Good luck, Sun!"

"Have fun, guys! See you soon!" Sora shouted. He grabbed Neptune's arm and dragged him off as well. "Don't take it too easy on him, okay?"

"You? Take it easy on me?" Adam asked as the larger group passed him. He smirked at Blake. "Please, my love, don't make me laugh." He widened his stance and allowed Blake and Sun a moment to do the same.

"Adam, she's trying to destroy the world. Everything," Blake begged, trying to appeal to the man she'd known forever ago. Sun stood by silently, but only because he knew it was important to her. "It's not too late to surrender."

"Better no world than one where I have to suffer the Hearts of humans and their _pets_ ," Taurus snapped. Then he tensed his legs and rushed the two Faunus, his red blade glinting in the nearly dead Light. "You're all rabid animals who should've been put down years ago!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora dodged around the incoming blow of the Wyvern Heartless, slashing one of its wings off as he slid past the creature. Weiss came up behind him, summoning a glyph above and one below the stunned Heartless, and unleashed her attack. A beam of light appeared between the two glyphs and the Wyvern was completely engulfed until nothing of it remained at all. Weiss landed softly and turned her blade on an approaching Grimm, readying to stab through the Razorback's weak belly. Sora, meanwhile, had summoned a storm using Thunder. The electricity arced down and stunned a swarm of tiny, bullet shaped Heartless, sending them tumbling to their deaths at the magic laced bullets of Ren's StormFlower.

Sora stopped moving and looked up at the place where Salem stood, so far away. He almost felt like they weren't getting any closer, even though he knew they were. The young man shook his head and ran towards the next monster that blocked their path, slicing the Defender's shield in two with a single, Light infused blow. The shield exploded in the Heartless' hand and it was thrown backwards from the force. Nora yelled excitedly and ran behind the creature, bringing her hammer around to slam the Heartless into the ground. The monster exploded in a cloud of Darkness, leaving the woman to giggle and move on to the next one. For perhaps the millionth time, Sora found himself wondering if Ren was a lucky guy or if the ninja should be worried about his future safety. Sora once again decided the answer was both.

Sora let his gaze drift out to the ring of battles taking place beyond the battlefield. People were getting hurt for him. Ozpin had pointed out they knew the risks when they got involved; while they all wanted to survive, saving the lives of those they loved was a happy ending for many of them, just not the happiest ending. It took the courage of a strong Heart to risk death for another, and finding the Light in the face of Death was how the fallen would find any happiness in their ending. Sora's grip on the Keyblade in his right hand tightened and he couldn't stop his weapon from drifting up and towards the mass of monsters. The very least he could do was give them a chance to have their happiest endings.

He twisted the Keyblade in his hand and a hundred streams of light shot from the tip of his weapon, dancing through the air and arcing towards the enemy. They shot through the Heartless and Grimm fighting the Atlesians, effortlessly destroying the creatures. Every one that died by the hand of this spell exploded in a violent burst of Light, the energy passing over the Atlesian soldiers and mechs without incident but burning away the Heartless and Grimm unlucky enough to be caught in its path. Sora took a breath and turned away from the battle's edge to continue the advance towards Salem; he had done his part to help those people for now. His and Ruby's job was to stop Salem – that was the best way to get rid of these Grimm and Heartless and save all of their lives.

Sora turned and looked across the forest towards where Ruby was talking with Kairi and Riku, both of the girls laughing at something the white haired boy had s–

Sora's eyes widened and he threw himself to the side, causing the illusion around him to instantly shatter and become replaced with the battlefield once again. He rolled to his feet just as an explosion of Dark Fire appeared where he had been a moment before. He jumped towards his enemy before the others could see what had happened to him, slashing through the Grimm and Heartless that would occasionally get in his path. After a few seconds, his weapon collided with the girl's umbrella. "Neo," Sora growled. The girl's brown and pink eyes crinkled with amusement and she twisted around Sora to try kicking him in the back. He responded faster than she thought he could and caught her heel with his free hand. He tossed her back and she had to unfurl her umbrella and drag it across the ground to keep herself from falling down.

But even as she stopped sliding backwards, she felt a cold feeling travel up her body from her heel. It only took a moment for the world to completely invert and she was torn from the ground to dangle in the air from her left foot. The mute's eyes widened in surprise and she drifted around midair until she was forced to stop by the white haired heiress holding her there. "Well, that was almost depressingly easy," Weiss muttered coolly as she glared at Neo. The criminal rolled her eyes at the little girl's bravado. Neo brought her umbrella up and slapped it across the girl's face, sending her spinning to the ground. Sora moved to attack Neo but was surprised when Neptune got into the fight ahead of him and slammed an electrified trident into the woman's back.

"Go," Neptune ordered Sora. He glanced over his shoulder at the Keyblade Wielder as Ruby and the others joined them during a lull in the fighting. "We have this covered."

Sora assented. "Be careful – she can make illusions so real you can't trust your eyes," he warned. Neo pushed herself to her feet and glared at Sora, murder sparking from her eyes.

"Weiss..." Ruby muttered upon seeing that evil flashing from Neo.

Weiss stomped her foot and pointed at Ruby. "Don't insult my skills, Dunce! I'm more than enough to deal with a common criminal like this girl, even without Neptune!"

Sora and Ruby glanced at one another. "... Okay," Ruby agreed. When she got angry enough, Weiss was even more fiery than Yang. There was no changing her mind when she was like this, and that was coming from Ruby. She hated that they had all just reunited and were already splitting up again, but knew there wasn't another option.

"Don't worry, it's just like the train," Weiss assured Ruby.

Yang frowned. "Didn't we lose that fight?"

Weiss turned a fiery red. "Just shut up and go!"

"Kay, just remember to keep a _cool_ head!" Yang shouted. Neo glanced at the blonde and shook her head disapprovingly. "Stay _frosty!_ _Icy_ you're gonna do great!"

Neptune sighed and shook his head. "Just... Just go," he muttered, then he shifted his weapon back into its rifle form and placed himself directly opposite of Weiss with Neo placed between them. He aimed the barrel of the weapon directly at the criminal's head while Weiss entered her own battle stance. "It's not even right to make the criminal hear Yang's jokes."

"I... Whatever," Yang growled. She turned around and began to sprint away, the others following suit a moment later. "I don't need to be insulted by someone who's afraid of water, dammit!"

"Your friends are real charmers, you know that Snow Angel?" Neptune muttered dryly without taking his eyes off of Neo. The criminal twirled her umbrella around her hand by the crook and glanced at the two goody two shoes on either side of her.

Weiss snickered. "Oh, come on... They're your friends, too."

Neo stopped twirling her umbrella. She knew she couldn't kill Sora; he had one of those Keyblades now. She'd have to make herself content with murdering some of Little Red's friends, instead. The blade extended from her umbrella's tip and she grinned menacingly. This would be fun.

 _ **R W B Y**_

The Heartless' claws tightened on the rocky outcropping it was using to hide itself from the children. It could remember Sora, to a very minor extent, because of Xehanort's decaying memories. The bandages wrapping around its form fluttered in a breeze carrying the Darkness and noise of the surrounding war. The Heartless hissed hungrily, feeling out the hundreds of Hearts that surrounded it. Each one was filled with its own emotions that it cast across the entire region, each one a beacon for a Heartless' hunger. This Heartless could feel every fiber of Darkness that permeated its being calling for it to find a human and devour its essence completely. It was in the nature of the creature to hunt down that Darkness, after all.

However, it had something else it had to do. Another will pressed upon what little remained of its mind, commanding it to do something other than what its nature demanded of it. The Will, the most powerful Darkness that was present on the battlefield, had told the Heartless to wait on the path the Will had created to funnel Sora towards her. She had been very adamant about the order, taking careful consideration to ensure the order stuck in its mind. It still would attack the humans out there in the battle at times when a particularly powerful flare of Darkness would appear, seeking out the originator of the feeling and devouring its essence before any of the other Heartless could manage to do so. Another stream of Darkness appeared on the outskirts of the battle and the Heartless' yellow eyes flashed with desire.

Eventually, the hunger it felt grew too great to be held back. Once again, the creature launched a blood curdling shriek into the sky and rocketed off towards the battles. Its shadowy tail trailed behind it, moving with the same sharp and sudden turns that its body made when snaking around the creatures and robots on the battlefield. The monster came across the first of the humans after only a few seconds, the fleshy being standing among a dozen or so robots and doing its best to hold off the Grimm and Heartless that swarmed. Xehanort's Heartless hissed and erupted from the wall of monsters, swinging its claw through one of the robots. The android's metal body bent inward, shrieking as if surprised by the sudden blow. There was a sudden explosion from where the creature had stood, electricity and flames bursting from within its frame. The Heartless ignored the un-living contstruct and made right for the human at the center of the group. The human turned his gun on Xehanort's Heartless, surprised at the sudden attack, and blue streams of energy began to glance off of the monster's body. The droids followed suit a half moment later to defend the human and the Heartless was beset by blasts from every side.

Xehanort's Heartless growled angrily and dashed out of the death zone, moving fast enough to avoid every shot that came its way. The blue streams of energy flew around the Heartless' inky form, narrowly shooting past the creature's trailing tail. The creature growled to itself and swiped at the now distant droids with one of its claws, summoning a blade of Dark energy that flew towards them. The droids froze when the energy hit them and, a moment later, exploded as one. The human raised his gun in front of him and was thrown backwards from the force of the explosion. He was immediately set upon by Grimm and Heartless, the creatures trying to destroy or devour him. Xehanort's Heartless growled jealously and rocketed towards the growing pile of monsters. It slammed into the creatures, savagely attacking with its claws; the monsters were torn to shreds by the Heartless' claws and disappeared in explosions of shadow moments later. Soon, the Heartless reached the bottom of the pile and found the terrified gaze of the human. It opened its grinning maw, a terrifying hunger in its eyes, then tore the man's Heart right out of his chest. The Heart rose from the monster's hand and the creature feasted on the sheer terror in the man's eyes.

Its head turned as soon as the man's body began to fade away into sparks of Light that floated away to be replaced with a Heartless' form. Xehanort's Heartless suddenly felt the urge to seek out a specific Light, the one that the Will wanted it to seek out. Those that traveled with Sora and the Bright Light, their advance towards the Will was to be slowed by the Heartless. The Heartless growled and turned to cut another robot in two. Its lust for the Heart of humans burned bright enough to resist for another moment before the Will pressed even more heavily upon it and it was forced to concede. The Heartless rose into the sky again, its shadowy tail coiling around its form for a while as it reached out for those two too bright Hearts. It was not very difficult, as the two Keyblade Wielders stood out on the battlefield like infernos amongst candles. The monster's tail stopped coiling and it turned in Sora's direction. It growled hungrily and then rocketed towards the Hearts at full speed.

It appeared in front of the group moments later, one of its huge claws raised as it rushed towards them. It wanted their Hearts, it _wanted_ _their_ **Hearts!** Sora raised his Keyblade before the creature was even near, ready to deflect the attack that he was sure was coming his way. He was susprised when the Heartless shot right by him and crashed into the ground at the middle of their group. Everyone jumped away from the point of impact, with the two who were at the back getting separated from the others. The young man in green hit the ground and rolled backwards and back up to his feet. The girl with the hammer landed heavily beside him and the two aimed their weapons at the Heartless.

"Xehanort!" Sora shouted from behind the creature. It wanted to turn towards him, it wanted to claim the Keyblade Wielders' Hearts, those strongest of Hearts. But the Will pressed upon its desires again and its hunger was redirected once more towards the two who had been separated from the group. "Your Nobody was expecting me to get rid of you."

The Heartless glanced at him, then back at the two warriors waiting for it to attack. "Sora -"

The Keyblade Wielder let his weapon disappear. "I swear, if you guys say that we should go on without you, Ren, I'm going to get angry," he said simply with a smile on his face.

"Just cause you've heard it a thousand times doesn't mean you shouldn't," Nora pointed out. She raised her weapon just in time to catch the Heartless' claws on the hammer's head, then she summoned down up an Aerora to send the monster flying away. "And come on, would you really let us try to fight Salem with you?"

"You're scary smart sometimes, Nora," Ruby pointed out.

Ren raised his weapons and fired off a stream of bullets laced with Confusion at the Heartless. It roared out in pain and fell to its side, trying to drag itself in any direction it could in its pain. "At least if we take this thing out we'll be doing something useful," Ren stated. He let his weapons fall to his side for a moment and he looked over at Argent. "If you see Jaune, tell him that we miss him."

"I'll make sure he remembers, you two," Argent replied. "But I'd rather you kill this thing fast so you can tell him yourself."

"Deal, Old Guy!" Nora shouted, then she leaped towards the Heartless with her hammer raised above her head. "Woo hoo!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Jaune Arc's eyes slowly swept across the landscape of the battlefield before him, waiting for Sora in front of the stairs just as Master Salem had ordered him to do. Memories flashed in his head, saying he should probably be bored doing something like this. At the moment, however, he couldn't feel anything other than rage that Salem directed; he was simply doing what had been commanded of him. He would likely kill anything that Salem had not explicitly ordered him to keep alive, as everything in the World inspired her rage and, thus, his. Jaune's hand tightened on the Keyblade at his right side and a black flame ignited along its blade. The air seemed to grow colder around the young man's shoulders and the leather of his gloves squeaked quietly against the black metal in his hand.

It had been some time since this war had begun, and Jaune could hear faint screams. He thought they were coming from the battlefield, but he wasn't quite sure that was right. Not that it mattered anyways, his Heart couldn't give off any kind of response to the noise echoing through it. He could not quite hear them through the huge walls Salem had put up in him, the steel dividing his inner being muffling the noise beyond recognition. Jaune's yellow eyes locked onto a group of six people approaching from across the battlefield at full speed. The screams paused for a moment and turned into begging that he ignored.

"Wait, is that –?" The person asking the question cut herself off and slid to a stop in front of Jaune, a young man with spiky brown hair, a slightly older young woman with green hair and scarlet eyes, a young woman about the same age with long blonde hair who was grinning wildly, and an older man with gray hair and a serious face were with her. The girl with the glowing, silver eyes and dressed in red laughed excitedly. "Jaune! It is you! You're here to help us stop her, right?"

Jaune didn't respond, though his grip on his weapon tightened. His gaze passed over the woman and her overly happy grin for a moment and he took a step to the right. "Jaune?" the man beside the girl asked. His head cocked to the side in confusion and his spiky brown hair shook from the movement. "Jaune, I know you saved my life. I wanted to say thank you." The young man straightened up and walked towards Jaune, hand stretching out to land on Jaune's shoulder comfortingly.

Before it could touch him, however, Jaune's Keyblade lanced up. Sora dashed backwards a step and summoned his own blade to block the attack and twist to slash at Jaune's head. The blonde brought his weapon up with both hands to block the attack, leaving the two in a blade lock for a moment. Blue eyes met yellow and Sora gasped. He jumped away again and dismissed the Master Keeper again. "What's wrong?" a blonde man asked, running to catch up to Sora and stopping beside the younger man. His eyes locked on Jaune and widened. "Jaune?"

Jaune didn't respond, instead keeping his eyes locked on Sora and Ruby. He blinked once, but other than that remained still as stone. "Jaune it's me – It's your father."

Jaune felt a spark of anger and something else flash in his Heart and he turned on the man. His yellow eyes burned even brighter while staring at the man who looked almost exactly like him. "I don't think Jaune can hear us," Sora stated after a minute or two of Jaune glaring angrily at his father. He shook his head. "His eyes are yellow."

"They're blue," Argent pointed out dumbly.

"Not right now." Sora looked over at Argent. "They're yellow."

"Like Xehanort's?"

He looked over at Ruby. "Yeah." He turned back to Jaune and crossed his arms. "It means that there's nothing awake in there but Darkness right now."

"Vomit boy's being pretty quiet right now," Yang said, pointing out the other weird thing about Jaune. "Usually we can't get him to shut up."

"He is being pretty quiet..." Sora's eyes widened and his face got angry and serious. He said, "Oz, could she have..?"

The gray haired man nodded. "Keyblades do allow one to control Hearts, and Salem certainly would be willing to do it."

"Would you like to share with the rest of the class?" Emerald Sustrai snapped.

"She locked his Heart away."

"Jaune's in there somewhere, but... he can't do anything?" Argent asked. His fists began to shake at his side. "That monster would do that to my son!?" Argent's hands moved faster than anyone expected and his sword and shield were at the ready immediately, the crest of his family somehow shining even in the low light of the Grimmlands. "I'm going to kill her!" He sprinted towards the stairs.

"Argent!" Ozpin snapped in warning.

It was too late for the man to stop, but he did raise his shield in time to protect himself from the sudden blow. Jaune's Keyblade slammed into the shield's face and Argent was sent backwards. Argent's feet dragged through the ground until he came to a stop in front of Sora, a small dent at the top of his shield. "He's weaker than before," Sora muttered upon seeing the dent.

"This is weak?" Argent asked Sora, stunned. Sora nodded and a huge smile grew across Argent's face. "Haha! That's my boy!"

"Your timing could be better, Old Man," Yang said. She raised her fists and prepared for Jaune to rush them, the others following suit, save Ruby, Ozpin, and Sora. Yang looked over in confusion. "What are you guys doing?"

"He hasn't attacked us yet," Ruby pointed out. Jaune looked towards her and slid further to the side, as if opening up a path. Ruby's eyes widened with understanding. "He's... He's letting us through."

"But if Salem is in control... why?" Sora asked.

Ozpin frowned. "The **χ** -blade must need more conflicts to be completed, which means -"

"We still have a chance!" Sora shouted. He sprinted right past the calm Jaune without thinking. The blonde let him past without incident, causing the others to look at one another before following Sora one by one. Ruby first, dashing past him faster than he could have responded anyways. Emerald tentatively went next, raising an illusion that made her invisible just in case. Jaune's Heart was too divided for him to even see the illusion, but he let her pass. Ozpin moved by the young man calmly and collected. Just as Argent and Yang began to walk forward, however, Jaune stepped into their path.

"So he's not here to let you guys through," Yang said. She raised her fists and glared at Jaune, Argent raising sword and shield beside her. "He's here to keep everyone else out."

"Fine. I wanted to talk to my son, anyways," Argent stated. "He's grounded and we're throwing away the key."

"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Sora whispered to Ruby.

"Just be glad Yang didn't -" Yang began to laugh. "... Never mind."

Sora shook his head, snickering at the two humor-deaf warriors. "Well, I guess it's on us." He looked up at Argent and Yang. "Jaune is fighting to hold back, so just help him break out completely."

"But still... be careful, Sis!" Ruby shouted.

"Aren't I always?" Yang asked with a shrug.

"..."

"Yeah, yeah," Yang muttered. "Why don't you and your boy toy just go save the world or something."

"I guess we are key players!" Ruby shouted before turning to sprint up the crystal stairs. The others laughed behind her; Sora especially, though Ozpin and even more surprisingly Emerald, were snickering too.

"I... I don't think it's funny," Yang muttered as she clenched her robot fist.

"What, you think I do?" Argent inquired just before Jaune flew towards his father, blade aflame in his fist.

Sora and Ruby ran side by side up the crystal stairs, hoping that those they had left behind would manage to help Jaune. Ozpin and Emerald were a few steps behind them, trying to keep up with Sora and Ruby. The two Keyblade Wielders were moving slightly slower than usual to allow the two to keep up. "Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

Sora smile was directed up the stairway towards the shattered moon. "I'm glad I got to meet you."

Ruby smiled in the same direction. "Me too."

They continued to run in silence until reaching the top, at which point the two summoned their weapons and stared at Salem. She was standing at the center of the arena she had created, flanked at a small distance by the remains of the **χ** -blade encrusted in crystal to her right and Mercury unconscious within a cage of Dark Fire to her left. Ozpin and Emerald arrived a half second later and also readied for battle. "You certainly took your time, Ozpin," Salem said, an amused smile sneaking onto her face.

Ozpin did not respond, knowing to do so would only feed her ego. "Merc!" Emerald shouted. She rushed forward and slid to her knees beside the cage. "Merc, wake up!"

Salem ignored the green haired girl and took two steps towards Sora, Oz, and Ruby, only to stop when they raised their weapons again to prepare their defenses. "Oh, please. You know you have to defeat me quickly or the **χ** -blade will be complete." Salem grinned evilly and said, "You have no time to scout the extent of my abilities. You will be entering this battle _blind._ "

Salem threw her hand out to the side and summoned the Kingdom Key. "I, however, know the extent of every ability any of you could possibly possess."

"Then I guess we'll have to learn on the fly!" Sora snapped. He and Ruby moved so quickly that they practically disappeared, leaving behind only a sudden cloud of dust where they had stood a moment before. Salem smirked and twirled her Keyblade, summoning up a glow as they separated suddenly. A pair of gold and silver hatchets rose a moment later, their blades the teeth of the Kingdom Key and half the Kingdom Key's guard present around either of her hands, to catch the two Keyblades rushing towards her neck.

"I doubt your Hearts are strong enough for it to matter."

 **AN:**

 **I know that this chapter was shorter and slower than usual, but don't worry: the next two chapters are pretty much all fight scenes. Next chapter is the supporting fights set up above and chapter 40 is VS Salem. I've also come up with one possible name for the spin-quel, and the title is a thousand times better when I think of Yang saying it. Or worse, I guess. I'll try to have the name 100% down by the epilogue.**

 **Responses!**

 **To brave kid: Thanks!**

 **To Soul's Release: Thanks. I wanted a way to make Ruby using Keyblade Transformations significantly less of an 'Ex Machina' moment; I'm glad the sparring scene turned out well despite its flimsy origins.**

 **To warrior of six blades: I'm glad to have inspired you! Yeah, I thought that despite Ruby having more of a formal combat training, Sora has just been at this for so long and he was a natural fighter that he would win. As for Penny, I feel like if/when she comes back that exchange with someone is inevitable. It's probably easy to forget she isn't human given that nobody thought she wasn't until it was revealed, so a casual mention will slip out sooner or later.**

 **To gamelover41592: Thanks. I hope these last chapters are as good as the 37 that came before them!**

 **To kingofclubs8129: Don't worry, Jaune isn't a Heartless or a Nobody! It's more like... Remember Zack Fair in Birth By Sleep? It's like that. As for Qrow/Winter, the two will pop up together to annoy/cheer up one another in the epilogue.**

 **To Mysterrymuffin2: That's actually a pretty great compliment. I hope that I can manage to successfully pull off the ending to the level I want to because, as anyone who's played ME3 will attest, endings are apparently really damn hard to do well.**


	39. Unfinished Business

_**Chapter 39: Unfinished Business**_

Blake could do very little at the moment other than try to avoid the attacks that were coming at her one after the other, blood red blade moving like a laser as it tried to dismember, stab, or otherwise kill her. The black, shadowy arm that held the blade was moving like a whip, making the attacks even more unpredictable and pushing the young woman closer and closer to her limit. She was acutely aware that if it were not for the monkey Faunus who was distracting Adam by trying to land even a single blow on her attacker, she would likely have already been hit by Wilt's edge. She made a mental note to compliment Sun if they managed to get out of this alive.

"What kind of radical idealist are you?" Sun snapped while he brought his staff around once again. Adam leaned back to avoid the blow and Sun immediately turned it into a jab. Taurus twisted beyond the attack and lashed out with a backhand blow using his sword's scabbard. Sun disconnected his gunchucks and brought the weapon up to deflect the blow. "What? The White Fang dump you, so you go from 'kill the humans to save the Faunus' to 'kill it all?' I love how you stuck by your ideals."

Adam snarled and lashed out with his foot, the blow glancing off of Sun's hip. The monkey Faunus stumbled backwards and used his hands to spring back up to his feet, gunchucks reconnected into a staff once again. He leveled the weapon's tip at his opponent again and waited for Adam's next move. "I just cannot understand what it is Blake sees in you," Adam snarled. He jumped towards Sun, lashing out with his foot at Sun's head this time. The monkey Faunus ducked beneath the blow and used his staff to sweep the man's other leg out from beneath him. The terrorist flipped when his foot left the ground, but his other foot kept moving to land against the ground and keep him from falling. The scabbard shot out towards Sun's throat and the monkey Faunus was forced to roll out of the way. "She was always more interested in men who are strong, intelligent, or interesting."

"Maybe she just wanted a change of pace!" Sun snapped. He frowned and glanced at the ground. "Um... wait a second! I mean –!" Sun was forced to cut himself off when the scabbard flew at his throat yet again. He clumsily slapped the attack away while backpedaling. "Dammit, I swear I'm usually better at this!" He twirled his staff, deflecting a series of strikes that Adam sent his way, then brought it around in a two handed blow directed at the terrorist's shadow arm. If he could just break Taurus' control of his sword for a moment, it would give Blake the time she needed to make this a real two on one fight.

The scabbard came around to block the blow, catching the staff before it could hit the shadowy arm and destroy it. Sun used this to his advantage, however, and looped his off hand around the scabbard, yanking on the end of the staff to extend the chain between two sections and loop it around the scabbard. It was a simple thing to turn, accelerating with the aid of an Aero spell, and tear the secondary weapon out of Taurus' hand. A quick fire of the gunchuks later and the staff separated into two, giving Sun the time he needed to launch a barrage of bullets right at the shadowy limb, interfering in Taurus' control. The limb seemed to melt into the ground, giving Blake all the time she needed to run right at Adam.

"I suppose that's what I get for underestimating you," Taurus growled at Sun. The shadow reappeared at the end of Adam's arm, almost as if it had never been destroyed at all. Sun's heart skipped a beat when he saw the terrorists' red blade float up from the ground and shoot tip first right towards Blake.

"Blake!" Sun snapped. He sprinted towards the cat Faunus, using his reconnected staff to try to hold off Taurus' secondary assault. Blake turned her head around and saw the red blade advancing on her, so she let it collide... with a shadow. The fake exploded violently around the sword and sent it flying away. Blake herself was far above, spinning mid air. Gambol Shroud flashed in the dim light of the Grimmlands as she descended, and her blade soon crashed into Adam's scabbard.

The two struggled against one another for a few moments. "You are such a disappointment," Adam growled.

"I was about to say the same thing." Blake angled her weapon and let Adam's weapon slide off of hers. She spun around him, performing a kick to the small of his back that sent him stumbling forward towards one of Sun's copies. Unfortunately, Adam's sword came up before he hit the clone's foot. He absorbed the force of the blow and twirled around. Blake jumped to the side to avoid a blow that never came. She came to her feet and felt the blood drain from her face when she saw the red sword cut through Sun's golden Aura like it was nothing. He hit the ground a moment later, blood streaking across the ground.

"SUN!" Blake shouted, her golden eyes flaring with rage. Darkness surrounded her twin blades and she rushed the smirking Adam Taurus. "How could you do that to him!?"

Adam turned and dodged the blow, a smirk on his face. He was surprised when the figure who had attacked him disappeared, a mere shadow. "What?" he grunted, turning as quickly as he could. He was lucky enough to get his blade up to block Blake's next attack from his right. It passed right through his weapon, another shadow. "Dammit, Blake, face me!"

"Fine." Adam was thrown from his feet by an explosion of Darkness, black flames licking at his suit as he soared through the air. She had not been hitting him this hard before; it was as if her Darkness had grown exponentially in a short period of time. He turned his head and opened his eyes when he began to return to the ground, only to close them again on instinct when a black shoe collided with his face and he was sent back into the air. "You -" Another kick at the small of his back sent him straight to the ground. His Shadowy arm dissolved alongside his concentration. A kick caused him to roll onto his back. "- keep hurting -" He screamed in pain as black ice erupted against his legs, shredding his clothes and rooting him to the ground. "- the people I care about!" He opened his eyes slowly to see Blake standing above him, Gambol Shroud's blade angled at his throat. Adam had expected this fire to have been destroyed by her time as a human's pet, but Blake's golden eyes still glowed like fire. In fact, it was the only color visible against the black shadows coming off of her shoulders and blade. She looked like she was going to cut him into a thousand pieces.

But she didn't. "I want to kill you, Adam," she said, taking a step back and letting the shadows around her disappear. "But I've killed enough people because of you. I would rather someone else do this." She froze his free arm so it was stuck to the ground before she turned around and began to run towards Sun's prone form.

"Then you're a fool," Adam growled. His arm reappeared, destroying the ice on his legs and left arm. He surged to his feet and threw himself at Blake's back, shadowy hand forming into a jagged, evil claw. "Those humans really got to you, and you're going to pay the price, anim-" He was cut off when the figure in front of him disappeared, yet another shadow, and a sharp pain extended through his chest. He looked down as the claw extending from his right shoulder began to falter; a sword covered in flames of pure Darkness was extending straight out from his heart.

"I won't make the same mistake twice, then," Blake said. Then she twisted her sword within Adam and unleashed a Dark Firaga, engulfing her former love and enemy in an explosion that incinerated him completely in a single, merciful second. Finally, Adam Taurus was gone.

Blake stood where she was for a moment, letting that fact sink in. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. Then she remembered she didn't have time to think about that; she dropped her weapons and sprinted towards her ally laying on the ground. "Sun!" she shouted, sliding to a stop beside him and summoning the green light of a Cure to at least close the wound. She placed her hands on the sides of his face and looked for the place where Wilt had dealt its blow. "Sun, are you –!?"

"Hey, you didn't run away this time! You do care," Sun joked. He opened his eyes and grinned. "You're even crying." His hand reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"You're alive," Blake noted, her voice cracking with joy. "He... he didn't hit you?"

"No, I think he did. I just... Why can't I feel my tail?" Sun suddenly asked, his eyes widening with worry. He tried to jump to his feet, but groaned in pain and immediately fell to his face. With a voice muffled by the ground, he began to cry half heartedly. "He... he cut it off, didn't he?"

Blake grimaced and looked at Sun's broken tail. "Half of it," Blake supplied sympathetically. She walked over and sat down beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Maybe Doctor Polendina will make you a prosthetic?"

He stopped crying and turned his head so half of his face was still in the Dust covered ground. "You think?" he asked through teary eyes.

"I'm sure," she replied with a smile. She reached down and helped him to his feet, supporting his weight across her shoulders. "Where do you think we should go?"

"To help the others of course!" Sun shouted. It sounded like he had barely held back a 'DUH!' He leaned down and picked up his weapon, folding it up and putting it away as soon as he did.

"You're hurt and I have to carry you!"

"Um..." Sun mumbled, trying to come up with a way to circumvent that logic.

"I'll take you." They looked up at the same time to see Qrow Branwen standing there. He was staring at the crystal pyramid across the battlefield, red eyes fixed on the flashes of Light that would appear atop it. "I have a feeling that Ruby and Sora are going to need all the emotional support they can get."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Weiss cartwheeled out of the path of Neo's bladed umbrella while Neptune began to fire off a volley of electric blasts at the mute crime lord. Neo's pink and brown eyes widened with anger and the body of the umbrella sprang open. The shield that the umbrella created caused the blasts to fizzle out uselessly upon collision. The blade disappeared within the umbrella and an explosion of ice erupted from the center of the unfolded weapon. Neptune threw himself to the side, rolling to his knees and firing off another volley to distract the crime boss. The umbrella moved to easily catch the attacks.

"You know, fighting this girl is really weird," Neptune said as he swept his weapon out to the side and shifted it from blaster form to trident form.

"And why is that?" Weiss asked as she planted a gravity glyph on the umbrella's face. It slammed into the ground a moment later, leaving Neo wide open to a series of stabs from Neptune's weapon.

Neo raised her foot and kicked his blows away as he continued to talk. "Well, traveling with Sora, Ruby, and you guys has gotten me used to an _absurd_ amount of banter during fights," Neptune explained when his fourth stab was deflected. She stabbed again while simultaneously shifting his weapon back into blaster mode. Neo's foot hit empty air and she stumbled to the side, taking her newly freed umbrella with her, and she felt a series of electrical bursts crash against her aura. "So going from that to a mute is pretty weird."

He received a kick to the face for his lack of attention. "Ow!" he snapped as he hit his back. He raised his blaster to catch Neo's incoming umbrella blade, giving Weiss time to jump in and summon a half dozen icy Beowolves to attack Neo. The crime boss jumped away from Neptune while the monsters chased after her with claws glinting red in the dim light.

"Real cool, Neptune," Weiss said dryly as she stopped above him with her hands on her hips. She raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"Don't remind me. That was too embarrassing," he muttered, cheeks a fiery red. Weiss scoffed, amused, and held her hand out to help pull him to his feet. He took it and the two turned their attention back to Neo again. She was currently in the process of dismantling the icy Grimm copies, her umbrella's blade flashing as it carved through the ice. One was down with a blade through the head, quickly followed by another that Neo flipped over her body by looping the crook of her umbrella around its wrist and yanking as hard as she could. Both of the creatures exploded into a thousand shards of ice even as Neo moved onto the next. A ball of fire melted a pair down into water while Neo coated her umbrella in darkness and sent out a blade of the energy, cleanly slicing the last two in half.

"I thought that would last longer," Weiss muttered before rushing in to continue the fight. She fired off flurry of icy spikes at Neo. The criminal looked up as the attacks came her way, and easily spun out of the path of all save one, which she lazily shattered with the body of her umbrella. Weiss came up behind the spears, bringing Myrtenaster up towards the criminal's chest. The blade pierced Neo and Weiss's eyes widened in surprise. They'd done it that easily?

Then Neo shattered into a thousand pieces accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. Weiss turned around as quickly as she could, hoping she could raise Myrtenaster in time to block the attack that was surely coming her way. She saw the blade of Neo's umbrella arcing down to kill her, and she tried to force herself to go faster. Thankfully, she had no reason to. Neo had forgotten, yet again, about Neptune. His blaster fire filled the air with high pitched whistling as the blue light slammed into Neo's side and sent her tumbling through the Dust covered ground.

Neo pushed herself to her feet, unfurling her umbrella to block the blaster fire Neptune was sending her way and the ice spells that Weiss was casting. These two were starting to get on her nerves, a lot more than she had expected them to. When Little Red and her boy toy had decided to circumvent her, she'd wrongfully assumed this would be a breeze of a fight. Neo supposed she would just have to step up her game, now; almost two years later, they weren't kids anymore.

She snarled and twirled her umbrella, casting an Aero spell as she did. Black Dust filled the air around her and was thrown forward by a tornado, filling the region around Weiss and Neptune with the material. Weiss threw her off hand up, shielding her eyes from the incoming Dust, while Neptune pulled down his goggles. "Wow, and Sun said I'd never get mileage out of these things!" he said to himself. "Can't wait to tell him he was wrong." He soon began to look around the dust surrounding them in an effort to find Neo, his eyes eventually locking on to Weiss' silhouette instead. She was looking at him, though he doubted she could tell.

The criminal's shape showed up behind her not a few moments later, placing Weiss firmly between the two of them. Neo wound up for a powerful, horizontal blow to the heiress' head that would send her flying. Neptune shouldered his rifle again. "Weiss, duck now!" he shouted even as his finger began to squeeze the trigger. Weiss did as he had said immediately, throwing herself down and the side. The umbrella collided with her trailing ponytail, but that didn't do anything to her, merely causing a few of her hairs to come loose. Neptune finished squeezing the trigger. "Sparks!" Yellow lights appeared around the barrel of his gun, spinning around, and when the blue lights began to stream from the end of the weapon they dragged those sparks behind them. They flew at Neo, crashing into her and –!

And she shattered into a thousand pieces. "Another damn illusion!?" Neptune snapped. He glanced around and twirled his weapon into its trident form to defend himself. He yelped when Neo appeared before him and began to slash wildly at him. Being more used to the ranged fighting, it was all he could do to actually block her attacks. "Dammit dammit dammit!" The umbrella strikes were surprisingly strong, rattling his arms with every collision. He tried to slash back with the electrified prongs when Neo took a step back, but it had turned out to be a trap. Neo easily sidestepped the desperate, clumsy blow and the crook of the umbrella's handle looped around Neptune's wrist. She twisted hard, yanking Neptune's arm up and behind his back at a painful angle. His trident fell from his open hand and a black explosion at his chest sent him flying across the battlefield. The Dust around them ignited with the explosion, and another, larger one erupted. Neptune heard Weiss scream out in pain before he was too far away to hear.

He bounced twice before stopping and rolling to a stop. He groaned and pushed himself up; he had to find his weapon. He opened his eyes and noticed that one lens of his goggles had shattered. "Da – Oh, oh... Oh, God no. No no no no no no no nonononon -"

He gulped down his words and looked around, hoping to God that it wasn't everywhere. It was. It was, of course it was. "God, why?" he asked. He was surrounded by a huge, twenty foot wide hole filled to the brim with the most terrifying substance known to all of mankind. What you ask? Water. One hundred percent, pure H2O. Neptune fell to his knees and stared out helplessly. "No..."

"What did you do to him?" Weiss snapped. She struggled to push herself up. Blood was streaming down from a cut above her left eye, from the same place she had been cut before attending Beacon. She slammed her fist into the ground as the scar began to close again, summoning up a huge glyph behind her. "What did you do to him!?" She surged to her feet and roared angrily, the first foe she had ever vanquished appearing from nothing behind her. The huge white knight echoed its masters rage, its armored form clanking with the movement and its huge sword whistling as it arced through the air into a ready position.

Neo smirked. This was interesting. She dashed to the side, leaving behind a physical illusion behind her. She had barely moved by the time that the huge, white blade crushed her illusion. She raised her umbrella and fired off a black explosion at the monster. It raised its free hand defensively, catching the blow in its open palm. The hand shattered under the heat and force of the flames colliding with it, and a cloud of steam appeared that obscured the monster. It came out of the cloud with its huge sword at its side, only missing its left arm up to its elbow. Neo growled and dashed backwards as fast as she could, narrowly avoiding the blade that crashed through the ground where she had been standing. Fine, two could play at this.

Neo raised her hand, coating it in Darkness and summoning a monster to her aid. The Defender's shield fell from the air in front of the icy knight's next blow, blocking the attack. Neo smiled and turned to glare at the heiress, who was glaring back with her left eye still shut and covered with blood. This was going to be a lot easier without her little supporter giving her back up.

Neptune could see the whole thing playing out, but he couldn't really pay attention. At the moment, he was paralyzed by crippling, intense fear of the water surrounding him. He could vaguely see his trident resting on the other end of the twenty – or was it forty? God, how much water was there around him? Whatever it was, he felt like it was beyond too much.

"Neptune, wake up Goddammit or I swear I will... shave your hair!" Neptune didn't respond. Weiss growled to herself. "I was... really hoping that would snap you out of this..." Neptune continued to stare out at the water, hearing only the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears.

Weiss jumped to the side and parried the umbrella's blade with Myrtenaster, flicking her wrist and jabbing forward once the umbrella was forced wide. Neo slapped the round blade aside with her open palm and lashed out with her leg, angling back and kicking Weiss in the side of her head. The white haired young woman stumbled tot he side, somewhat stunned, but still had the clarity of mind to raise her weapon and block the kick that was coming from the other side. Another blow landed at her midsection before she could respond again and she fell to her back, a buzzing in the back of her head warning her just how low her Aura was beginning to get. The explosion of the Dust cloud had decimated her Aura, easily pushing through the reflect shield she had tried to raise to protect herself. She wasn't sure she could take another hit, much less one from the criminal's blade.

Meanwhile, her Knight was doing better, but not enough to turn the tide of the battle. The Defender seemed a uniquely qualified counter to the Knight's abilities, even more so because of the damage Weiss' summoned creature had already sustained at the hands of Neo's spells. The Knight swept its sword upward in a lightning fast arc, the unbreakable ice letting out a hollow peel as it crashed into the face of the shield. The blade moved back down immediately, another harmonious noise echoing out. The Defender simply took each blow in turn, no damage managing to pierce the shield. The blows did, however, send the shield shifting from side to side. This prevented the Defender from counterattacking at all with its flame spells or the shield itself. On top of this, the Knight itself had no Heart or Will to it, making it somewhat more difficult for the Heartless to 'see.' That the Knight was merely a channel for Weiss' Heart and Will was even more confusing for the creature, as it could smell its prey coming from two different directions. The creature and the familiar were at an impasse.

Until Neo diverted her attention from the downed Weiss to launch a Dark Fira at the Knight. The creature's sword cracked, parts of its blade exploding off just as it had begun to attack the Defender again. This pause was just enough time for the Defender to slam its shield forward, the black, dog like face's mouth brimming with flames, right into the chest of the Knight. The flames exploded against the Knight, and the Knight disappeared in a cloud of steam. Neo looked down at Weiss and smiled as the Aura connecting her to her Knight vanished and the Heiress was made completely vulnerable. Neo hadn't killed anyone in almost three years! Not for lack of trying, of course, but it would be nice to finally break that streak. She didn't even feel like a real 'villain' at this point. She raised her umbrella above her head and flicked out the blade.

Weiss' skin grew even more pale. "N- Dammit!"

 _"What the hell are you doing!?"_ Neptune heard someone snap in the back of his head.

"Water..."

" _You... really? Really!? Oh my God, you aren't four anymore!_ " the voice shouted. " _Look, I just... Weiss is in danger. You have to help her!"_

"But... water – Oh, God dammit, you're right," Neptune muttered. He surged to his feet and glared at his weapon just across the moat. He swallowed the pit in his throat.

 _"Well!?"_

"I... The water is scary."

" _I am you, so I know that you coward. Just go!_ " The voice was not entertained. _"You aren't being cool, and Weiss is going to die!_ "

"Okay, fine!" Neptune snapped, and he sprinted right at the water with his eyes closed. "Eek eek eek eek eek eek..!" He continued running until he thought he had crossed the moat, at which point he opened his eyes. He turned around to see he was just a little past his weapon, so he grabbed it and began to sprint towards Neo. He didn't even think about how the water was supposed to be deeper.

"Hey, Ice Cream!" Neo turned towards him and was greeted by an electrical prod to the face. The criminal yelped in pain and surprise as the jolt passed through her skin and she was thrown backwards by the force of the blow. Neptune slid to a stop and watched the criminal slide away, a determined look on his face. After a moment, he looked down at Weiss. "I hope you appreciate that I crossed water for you!"

Weiss blinked once. _Water?_ "Um, wh- Move!" She shoved him to the side and surged to her feet, Myrtenaster in front of her. The tip of the blade angled towards the exposed body of the Defender when she passed beneath its raised shield. Ice magic trailed along the tip until it finally ran through the open mask of the creature and froze it from within. The creature exploded around Myrtenaster and Weiss felt the blood rush from her head; she was exhausted. Her shoulders slumped and she tiredly glanced over at Neptune.

"Nice save," he breathed. He shook his head and shouldered his rifle, aiming it straight at Neo who was beginning to stand up. Weiss made her move before the criminal could fully recover. With the last of her Aura, the heiress raised her weapon above her head and turned it ninety degrees clockwise. A yellow glyph appeared beneath Neo's feet and the criminal suddenly began to move slower.

Neptune caught on rather quickly. "Stop!" Then he fired a single, magically charged bolt. The blue and black energy crashed into the criminal, and a sphere of temporal energy expanded around her body. This was their opening. Neptune summoned up the most powerful stream of water magic he could manage and waited for the split second it would take for the river to slam into Neo. Had she not been under the effects of Stop magic and Weiss' glyph, she would have been thrown away like a ragdoll. Instead, she remained where she was, giving Neptune all the time he needed to squeeze the trigger again and let electrical Dust energy diffuse the river. A thousand thousand volts of energy traveled down the length of the river and into Neo.

Then the Stop spell wore off and Neo was thrown high into the sky. Her eyes widened and her heart began to beat with terror. She could feel a brown and pink light around her skin as her Aura almost instantly traveled down to zero from the sudden influx of damage, but it did not stop there. The energy coursed into her undefended body as soon as her Aura disappeared. Within three seconds, Neo was dead.

Weiss slumped and finally collapsed onto Neptune's shoulder. "That's what she gets for challenging two top tier fighters," she breathed. Her eyes were drifting shut, but she fought to stay awake.

"Yeah," Neptune said. He twirled his weapon into a trident and let the base of the weapon collide with the ground. A green light exploded around them, healing their immediate wounds and, if only slightly, rejuvenating Weiss' stamina. Neptune yawned and helped her steady herself. "You were pretty great, Snow Angel."

"And you were cool," Weiss admitted.

Neptune grinned. "Really? Good, I was trying _really_ hard."

"Oh, good, you two are still alive," Qrow said as he walked up, weapon in hand. Blake and Sun were following close behind, the monkey Faunus leaning on the girl's shoulders. "Let's get moving."

"Sun! Sun, I crossed water to save Weiss!" Neptune shouted, running towards his friend, whom Blake was supporting. Weiss raised an eyebrow when she was suddenly abandoned and caught Blake's eye. The cat Faunus rolled her eyes as if to say, _Boys will be boys_. Qrow sighed in disappointment; he wanted to get going already. "It was – Where's your tail?"

Sun began to cry.

"I, uh, I mean – I barely noticed! It really isn't that bad!" Neptune shouted while Weiss rolled her eyes, both bemused and amused by what was playing out in front of her.

"Blake, I'm glad to see you didn't run off this time," Weiss said jokingly. Blake turned her dry glare on the heiress. Weiss bit her cheek. "... Are you okay?"

Blake smiled at her friend. "No... but I think – for the first time in a while – I will be."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Ren's coat trailed behind him as he sprinted around the Heartless, firing off a constant barrage of confusion laced bullets at the monster as he did. The monster shrieked angrily, its arm raised in front of its face defensively to protect against the bullets, but doing little to protect it from the effects of the magic that was now pumping freely into its body. The world swayed around the monster and it began to thrash about vainly with its other arm as a weapon. "Nora, now!" Ren shouted. He slid to a stop and cut the magic he was channeling, letting the spell wear off on the Heartless. He didn't stop firing, however, causing the creature to begin turning towards him the moment that the Confusion wore off. It turned right into a powerful uppercut of Nora's hammer and it was tossed into the air by the strike.

"Thunder!" Nora shouted gleefully, hammer raised straight above her head. A singular, powerful lightning bolt built up and coiled above the Heartless for a moment before exploding downward. The Heartless roared in rage and pain before the beam of energy sent it plummeting back towards the ground. The Dust exploded out from where it landed, leaving the monster in a crater as it forced itself to float again. As soon as it began to hover again, however, Ren came spinning down through the air. StormFlower's blades glinted with menace as he coated them with Poison magic and slashed one, two, three times with each blade. The Heartless hit the ground yet again. Ren grinned as he landed softly on the ground, ready to put distance between the monster and himself.

The creature lashed out before he could, however. By a combination of incredibly speed and great luck on the Heartless' part, the black claw of the creature wrapped around Ren's ankle. The warrior grunted in surprise and fell face first into the Dust. He recovered quickly and lashed out with his foot, heel catching the palm of the monster's other claw as it rushed down at him.

Nora broke this stalemate. Her hammer spun around above her head and she brought it down with both hands. The Heartless let go of Ren's leg and tried to avoid by flying away. It was almost successful, but the poison in its body caused a sudden spike of pain. The Heartless flinched where it was, stopping for just a second, and Nora's hammer came down on the its tail. The creature roared angrily and whirled on the two warriors who now stood next to one another. From the Heartless' glowing fist erupted a beam of pure Dark energy, the wave colliding with the two Huntsmen and sending them away from the Heartless.

"Well, this thing is just Heartless," Nora muttered as they pushed themselves up to their feet.

"You sound like Yang," Ren pointed out, earning a gasp of disbelief and horror from Nora. Ren decided to take pity on her. "Don't worry, I still think you're A-Nora-ble." The berserker squealed gleefully and turned her weapon into its grenade launcher form, firing off a volley of heart emblazoned grenades at the Heartless. The monster deftly snaked between the attacks, formless like a shadow as it moved. It came out with both claws raised and surrounded with spheres of Dark power. The energy flew from its hands, arcing towards the two Huntsmen.

Nora jumped in front of Ren, readying Magnihild over her right shoulder. She waited as one of the beams began to outpace the other, then slapped it aside with the head of the hammer with a single blow. The beam went wide, performing a sharp turn down and to the left from where the berserker was standing. She took a single, shallow breath and fired the grenade launcher in the hammer's head, completely reversing its momentum. She spun the weapon in her hands and delivered another massive blow to the second beam, altering its path in the opposite direction of the first.

Ren wordlessly jumped onto the head of the hammer as it stopped moving, and Nora seemed to understand what he wanted without any problems. She wound up for a moment then brought her weapon forward as hard as he could, stopping at just the right time to send Ren flying right at the Heartless. He slashed downwards with StormFlower's blades, catching the Heartless' incoming claws. Ren twisted, channeling his Aura into his arms, and finally threw the Heartless at the ground again. It twisted as it fell and was able to stop its fall this time, only for Nora's grenades to smash into it at full power before it could return its attention to battle.

Nora continued to unleash blow after blow upon the monster, hammer spinning as it crashed down onto the monster's shoulders and back up to attack again. The Heartless stumbled back with every moment the barrage continued, dents and divets appearing in its flesh wherever the hammer collided with its body. The Heartless was slammed from side to side by Nora's hammer until she landed a final blow to the combo and it was sent straight into the ground. Nora squeezed the trigger on the handle of her weapon and the grenade fired, burying the monster further and helping her to backflip away while Ren prepared for the next move.

He leaped as high as he could in the air, flipping over the monster as he did. He began to fire a constant barrage of bullets at the Heartless, taking advantage of its inability to move. He landed next to Nora and the two waited to see if they had dealt the final blow.

But, well, obviously not. "Why did we even think he would be dead?" Ren grumbled to himself when the ground beneath their feet turned an inky black. The two jumped back as quickly as they could, but only Ren was fast enough. This time, the Heartless' claw wrapped around Nora's throat and the two shot upward. Ren's eyes widened. "Nora!" He grit his teeth as the two figures soared away from him, further and further so that he couldn't hit the creature without hitting Nora. Oh, dammit, where was someone who could fly when he needed them? He couldn't help Nora get out of this, he couldn't... No, he had one chance.

"Thunder!" Ren snapped, he crouched his legs as the energy began to pulse through his weapons, then jumped as far as he could. As he soared upward towards the Heartless. The creature's evil grinned turned on Ren as he raised his weapons and aimed them straight up at the thing, then it turned and placed Nora right between them. Despite himself, Ren grinned before he began to fire a constant stream at Nora's back. The electrified particles slammed into the berserker's form one after another, each small charge of electricity adding up in her body until, finally, it became enough. Nora's hand rose and tore the Heartless' hand from her throat. She bent the creature's appendage back at an unnatural angle, then used all the power she had been given to deliver a blow so powerful to the monster's head with Magnihild that it exploded into a thousand particles of Darkness right there, finally defeated. She continued to spin in the air, her eyes eventually catching Ren's, and she grinned. Ren grinned back.

He hit the ground softly a moment later and holstered his weapons. He ran forward and slid to a stop with outstretched arms beneath Nora. She landed on him harder than any blow the Heartless had managed to dish out, and Ren realized as the breath was torn from his body that he had forgotten about how heavy Magnihild was. "Ren! We did it! Oh, it was so fun! Did you see when – " Nora shouted, only receiving a gurgle in reply. She grinned sheepishly and jumped off of him, letting him breath. She reached out to him. "Oops..."

Ren grabbed her hand and stood up. "That was fun," he agreed after a moment, and he smiled softly. He raised his finger to Nora's nose. "Boop."

Nora blushed for a second before raising her hand as well. "Boop." She placed her finger on his nose.

"Is this... is this supposed to be how they kiss?" Weiss inquired. The two turned, somewhat embarrassed by being discovered in the middle of a private moment. Weiss was standing at the front of the group who had been separated cut off from them by previous enemies. Qrow was there, too, his sword resting on his shoulder in the same manner that Sora would often place his weapon.

"I think it's a-Nora-ble," Ren repeated simply, earning another squeal of joy from his partner.

 _ **R W B Y**_

Jaune Arc stood stock still in front of the crystal staircase leading up to Salem and, now, Sora, Ruby, Ozpin, and their temporary criminal allies. His black Keyblade was held out to his side, ready to battle at the slightest provocation from the two blonde warriors standing opposite him. Somewhere behind the burning yellow of his eyes, Jaune recognized them. They were important, though he could not quite remember why or how.

The man was the first to truly ready himself for battle. He reached down to his hip and pulled out a gleaming white sword, similar to the one he had received from his father and passed down to his own child. The blade was longer, however; more befitting a fully trained knight. Next he pulled the scabbard from his hip and it unfurled into a kite shield adorned with the golden, rising sun of the Arc family crest. Running along the back side of the shield, right next to Argent's hand, was a Dust gun embedded in the metal to allow for some mid ranged attacks. Argent raised the shield in front of him and looked at his son over the lip, then raised his sword beside his head and slid his right foot back so he stood at the ready. Yang merely raised her fists and grinned, ever the cocky fighter. "Bring it on, Vomit Boy," she said, then she launched herself at Jaune as fast as she could.

Yang's fist was gleaming with a fire spell, and her hair was beginning to float behind her with the same intensity. She wasn't angry, however; she was excited. She hadn't gotten a chance to fight a Keyblade wielder yet, and she wanted to have some fun doing it. Even if she had to help figure out a way to break whatever weird crap was making him act like an Atlesian droid. Her fist came down and the spell coating it exploded uselessly against the flat of the black Keyblade. Jaune's eyes met hers as she tried to push against his defenses and the contact between them began to rattle. Yang frowned at how empty they looked, like he wasn't in there. "I guess this is what Ruby's Boy Toy meant he said your Heart is locked away, Vomit Boy," she said cockily. She grinned and brought her other fist around to slam into the Keyblade's flat and begin to push the Keyblade wielder backwards through the Dust.

Jaune didn't respond for a moment, and then a Reflect wall appeared in a flash around the blade of his Keyblade. Yang barely had a moment to realize what had happened before she was thrown away from Jaune, flipping through the air. She corrected herself and landed on her feet next to Argent. "I see you're a punch first ask questions later kind of girl," Argent noted simply. His eyes returned to his son. "Do you think we can beat my son in a fight?"

Yang grimaced internally. Externally, she said, "Eh... I think we can get him off balance enough to break through whatever's got him like this." Her fist began to glow as she coated it with flames once more. "I think I'll let you do the talking. Like you said, I'm more of a punch first and ask questions later kind of girl, even with my friends."

Argent smiled. "You're definitely Taiyang and Raven's daughter," he said. He rushed forward and dipped his shield slightly, then quickly raised it when he got near his son. The lip of the weapon collided with Jaune's Keyblade and sent it bouncing upward in his hand. Argent next brought his weapon up, flat aimed at his son, and made to attack. Jaune sidestepped the blow and delivered a front kick to his father's chest. Argent stumbled backwards and turned as quickly as he could to bring his slightly dented shield between his son and himself. The Keyblade slammed into the same corner as before and the dent was made even sharper. Argent slid backwards through the Dust, and Yang leaped easily over him. She launched the flames covering her hand at the Keyblade warrior. He raised his free hand and slapped the first fire away, but the second right behind it crashed into his face. Jaune made a yelp that reminded Yang of the old days when Vomit Boy would clumsily fall on his face. Pyrrha would pick him up back then.

She wasn't here though, so Yang wasn't too surprised when Jaune's glowing yellow eyes, filled with angry fire, turned back on her. He flicked his weapon to the side, sending his father tumbling away and letting Jaune jump to turn his attention to Yang. His weapon slammed into her side, a powerful blow that almost took out a quarter the substantial Aura keeping her safe. Yang slammed into the ground and tumbled for a moment before getting her wits about her. She dug her robotic fingers into the ground to flip over and onto the balls of her feet, hands and toes dragging through the Dust until she stopped. She stood up and stretched her arm across her chest. "Looks like I should probably try that 'dodging' thing Ruby does so much," she muttered to herself. She let her hands fall to her side and shook out the tension in her shoulders.

Jaune ignored her in favor of his father, who was also observing Jaune in kind. Jaune could feel the rage and anguish in his Heart battering the walls locking him away. Memories began to appear, of his older sisters braiding his hair, his grandfather telling old war stories, and finally of his father and mother... His father and mother telling him he would not make it and if he failed he could always come home. The memory disappeared after a while, but the anger with the man lingered, enough so that Jaune went on the offensive. With Keyblade raised, he sprinted at his father.

Argent glared at the young man rushing him and his grip on his weapon tightened. How was he going to get through to his son? He slapped Jaune's overhead slash to the side and fired the Dust gun point blank. The explosion of energy merely seemed to annoy Jaune, as when the smoke cleared there was barely a scuff mark on his skin. The young man's free hand slammed into Argent's chest, the punch causing the older warrior to double over in pain. Jaune raised his weapon to deliver a blow to the man's back, but was tackled to the ground by Yang before he could.

"Now, Vomit Boy, it isn't okay to try killing your dad" Yang said. She grappled with Jaune for a while before separating his hands and legs so he was completely spread out. Her hands were at his wrists and her feet pinned his ankles. "Look, I'm sorry about Pyrrha. I understand it, okay?" That was the... wrong topic to bring up at that moment.

Dark energy pulsed through Jaune's body and he began to struggle against Yang's leverage and strength. "Come on, Jaune that isn't..." She stopped talking when his wrists began to rise and she was slowly pushed back. "Huh..." She slammed her forehead into his before jumping away, leaving the stunned Knight on the ground. He recovered quickly and stood up, readying his Keyblade in both hands at his side left side. Argent and Yang raised their weapons defensively, but were unprepared for the speed with which Jaune attacked. His Keyblade collided with Argent's shield and sliced it cleanly in two. The metal panel slid from Argent's arm and he brought his sword over to deflect the next attack. The Keyblade trailed Dark energy and the sword shattered against the magical weapon. A back kick sent Argent to the ground, but Jaune was already on Yang.

"You aren't getting any sympathy like that, Vomit Boy!" Yang shouted. She brought her fist down at his Keyblade, using the energy stored from his last blow, and deflected the gleaming blade. "Look, I get it. You lost someone you love, the person you loved more than anything. I lost my mom, so I get it." She punched Jaune in the temple and spun around to elbow him in the gut. She turned and grabbed his face between her hands. "And I'm going to do whatever I can to get her back. But not this. Not let someone else control me, because then I'm not doing anything! She'd want me to fight even if it hurt, and I know Pyrrha would want you to do that, too!" Yang jumped and forced her knee upward and into Jaune's chin. His head snapped back and Yang smiled. That had to have gotten through to him! Still, she raised her weapons and prepared for a counterassault.

It was good she did. She barely blocked the strike that came, Jaune spinning and bringing the Keyblade up at a diagonal. She slapped the flat of the weapon with her palm and raised her other fist to punch Jaune's lights out. Maybe they could sort all this out later. Jaune's Keyblade turned on a dime and slashed up to collide with her prosthetic fist, cutting it right in two. His hand shot out to her throat and lifted her from the ground before she could process the explosion of pain. "Why... does this always... happen?" she gurgled. Her vision began to tunnel on Jaune's yellow eyes. "Jaune, wake up... I could... _use a hand_..."

Jaune dropped her immediately, a flicker of recognition in his eyes for a moment. This was his friend, Pyrrha's friend. The walls in his Heart shuddered and a memory of a huge food fight ran through his mind, Yang and Pyrrha trading blows with food. He smiled. He couldn't – The Dark Will that had created the walls enforced itself upon him again and the recognition was gone. The memories still leaked out, but it was as if they were muted. He raised his weapon above his head and prepared to bring it down.

His attack was stopped by a woman with red hair and eyes that looked exactly like the woman she had saved. Yang raised an eyebrow as she continued to cough and gasp for air. "M-Morrigan?" she asked, surprised the Nobody would save her. She thought the Nobody wanted her dead, so why save her?

Morrigan did not respond, instead shoving Jaune away. She lowered her telescoping blade to her side. She pressed her advantage for a moment, the katana moving at such a speed that Jaune in his mind controlled state could barely keep up with. The Keyblade moved messier and messier, and the frustration was beginning to show on the young man's face. Morrigan shortened her blade before the next blow could land and looped the weapon through the central hole in Jaune's Keyblade. She then extended the weapon so its tip was buried in the ground. She used the weapon as a lever and yanked backwards, tearing the Keyblade from Jaune's hand. That was when the Nobody stopped attacking and raised her finger to point at the angry and embarrassed Keyblade Wielder. "Don't," Morrigan growled, her voice filled with anger. Real, actual anger, not a poor attempt at copying it from memory. Morrigan seemed to realize this and she glanced down at Yang. "She is mine to kill." Great, this again.

Jaune's eyes glanced between the Nobody and Yang, considering destroying them both. But that wasn't his job. Besides, the man was the one who inspired his anger. He turned away and a stream of Darkness appeared in his hand, his weapon returning at his command.

Morrigan turned to Yang while Jaune walked towards Argent. "I could kill you right now," the Nobody said. She placed the tip of her blade on Yang's throat and the young woman's hair flared up for a moment, eyes turning a bloody red with defiance. Morrigan flicked the weapon across Yang's face, leaving a small cut below the girl's left eye. "But there is no use killing you if I cannot enjoy my strength. You are here with the Keyblade Wielders, aren't you?" Yang raised a confused eyebrow. "Hm... Even if you are weakness, your death would unbalance them. That would be dangerous to my survival." She looked over at Jaune, who was standing still over his father. "I want to see this; what does it look like to kill your weakness?"

"Jaune, n-" Yang's appeal was cut off by Morrigan's hand covering her mouth.

"I will not kill you, but that does not mean I will not hurt you," Morrigan growled, then she looked back over at Jaune.

"Jaune," Argent said as he looked at the young man standing above him. He smiled at his son and tried to sit up. Jaune's foot collided with his chest and he fell back into the dirt. Argent's eyes widened and he hastily raised his hands to catch the edge of the Keyblade before it could slice through his neck. Jaune leaned on the blade, trying to push it down onto his father. Argent knew his only chance now was to get through to his son. "Jaune, I'm sorry. I was never good enough of a father to you." The pressure on the blade increased and it hit his throat for the briefest moment before he was able to push it away and breath. Jaune was far stronger than he had expected. "Son, wake up. Please. Your mother misses you, your sisters miss you, your friends miss you. I... I miss you and I want to help you get through the pain that's killing you." Argent felt tears stream from the sides of his eyes.

Jaune's pressure lessened for a half moment. _Dad?_

"Jaune, I – Ak!" the edge of the Keyblade seemed to sharpen, and blood began to leak from Argent's hands shortly after a thin, silvery barrier fizzled and died around his flesh. He had to get out of this or his son would never be able to escape what would happen. Argent looked around for anything that could save him, but his sword's remains were out of reach and the shield's pieces were useless. That was when Argent noticed the item dangling from Jaune's hip. It was worth a try. Argent pulled his right hand off of the Keyblade and yanked the item off of Jaune's hip as quickly as he could. A gray blade erupted from the guard and collided with the edge of the Keyblade.

"A sword –? Oh, thank God," Argent muttered, using his new weapon to push back against his son's blade. Still, he had only bought himself a few moments. Argent could feel the exhaustion in his arms telling him he was being pushed to the limit. Well, if he was going to die anyways he might as well say what he wanted to say. "I'm sorry, Jaune. Before I die, I want you to know... I'm proud. You made great friends and became a great warrior. So break through this, save your friends, and make me even more proud." Then his arms gave out.

 _Jaune, wake up..._

Jaune caught Fenrir before it could hurt his father. He tossed his Keyblade away and stood up slowly before he looked up at the sky.

"Interesting," Morrigan muttered. She glanced down at Yang before standing up. "Do not die; it would mean far less if I was not the one to kill you." Then she turned and began to walk away from the young woman with sword at her hip. Yang watched her go for a moment, more confused than ever.

"Love you too, Mom," she growled.

Jaune, meanwhile, continued to look up at the sky. Argent slowly pushed himself up to his feet and stood next to his son. He sighed. "You've gotten taller," he noted upon seeing they stood shoulder to shoulder now. Argent looked over at the tears streaming down Jaune's face, so he calmly put his arm around his boy's shoulders. "I didn't know how proud I could be of you until now, Jaune. You're quite the Huntsman – no, hero. I bet that's what that girl saw in you. Why she saved you."

"I just miss her, Dad..."

Argent looked over at his son and smiled sadly. "I know you do." He hugged his child closer and ruffled his hair. "I wish I could've met her. She sounds like one in a million. And a good sense of humor to boot."

Jaune didn't respond. He just cried into his dad's shoulder, letting loose everything he'd been holding in for so long. Argent smiled softly and leaned his head against his son's. "Welcome back, Buddy."

Yang watched this happen with a smile on her face. "Crybaby," she whispered before wiping a stray, empathetic tear from her eye. "Welcome back, Vomit Boy."

"Jaune! You're okay!" Argent blinked as his son disappeared to be squeezed in a hug between Ren and Nora. "It's so good to see you again, what are you doing here, how are you, did you miss us!? Never do that again!"

"Nora... choking me!" Jaune gurgled.

"Are you just incapable of keeping your hands in a fight?" Weiss mocked from behind Yang.

Yang rolled her eyes at the remark. "Ha ha, give her a hand," Yang remarked dryly, turning to her friends and uncle. She looked over at Blake. "Is he -"

"I got payback for you," the Faunus remarked simply. She wasn't smiling, but Yang could tell that a weight had been lifted from Blake's shoulders. That made the blonde brawler pretty happy to see.

"Hmph... Well, it doesn't make up for you stealing my style," Yang mocked with a grin. "I –" She cut herself off when she realized no one was paying attention to her. Everyone's gaze had drifted upward, eyes wide and full of fear. Yang blinked once and followed their gazes before the same terror ran through her mind. The world went silent as her mind focused on the one, impossible thing that was happening. "Son of a bitch..."

The shattered moon far above was drifting together, the stars surrounding it doing the same. The sky burned as the massive shards of Remnant's broken sattelite came together, slamming into the large piece of the moon. More and more of the stars disappeared. Stars drifted closer, appearing out of the Darkness, and came together. The round of the previously existing moon became a single hill of a Heart shape, another forming from the countless specks of Light that had surrounded Remnant. Soon, the moon was complete. Everyone had only heard the name a few times in Sora's stories, and each time the name had been connected with the ultimate power of the universe. A stream of light shot from the peak of the crystal building up towards the Heart shaped moon known only as...

Kingdom Hearts.

 **AN:**

 **Hey, sorry it's been so long. I had midterms pop up, and then I also wanted to make sure that these send off fights were sufficiently epic. I hope I succeeded in that regard! I also forgot about the melancholy that comes with getting this close to the end. I almost don't want it to end, you know? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this penultimate chapter.**

 **Responses...**

 **To brave kid: Any review means a lot to me, so even if it was no problem, thanks again.**

 **To Locke Lynx: I know it wasn't enough Morrigan/Raven, but she still has story left after this. She's actually about ½ the impetus for what happens in the epilogue.**

 **To Blazer777: Those are legitimate concerns. So, for the one about Ira, I assumed he was named that because it was his biggest flaw – anger. When you're angry you don't notice simple things. Also, earlier when Xehanort transformed his body he mentioned that only a Keyblade Master could do that and only if it wasn't his real body. He isn't omniscient, so the implication was that he was wrong; any Keyblade Master could do it if they wanted to, including Skye and Oz, which is why their voices and forms could change perfectly. As for the time travel, I'm sorry I didn't explain it well enough. I was trying not to overdo exposition, which is part of the reason I included the flash backs. The last lines of Sora in his chapter 1 fight with Xehanort were the same as Oz's in the Keyblade War because the events were the same – I was trying to quietly suggest that chronal displacement is delicate as fuck, so getting distracted by another person or a punch to the face – not to mention the Darkness caused by Kingdom Hearts' shattering/disappearance – threw the time travel's destination off. Finally, Sora isn't happy. I mean, he is, but even in the last chapter when Neo showed him an illusion of the thing he wanted most, it was of Riku and Kairi meeting Ruby. He's accepting it because he has to accept it. Anyways, you must see something you like for you to keep reading, and maybe even more so because you've obviously been thinking about it! I'm glad to have inspired anything like that, so regardless of whether it's good or bad, your criticism has been constructive and heartening. Thanks!**

 **To warrior of six blades: Thanks, I'm glad my idea with the droids made sense. I also agree with you about Qrow, and that's why he was clear about 'emotional support' rather than any actual support. He knows he's out of his weight class already, but he probably wouldn't be much help regardless. And, yeah, I was sad about Tai too. Unfortunately, I just kind of realized I didn't have a place for him to actually... do anything with the main cast and he hasn't been around enough for him to be 'needed' in the last fight.**

 **To Guest: Yeah, that seems to be a consistent gripe. I thought that his dad would be the best person for this, now, so I hope that the sympathy he deserved is what he got. I also have one more big piece planned for him, like an emotional sendoff for his arc in this story. And I hope that next chapter and this one fulfill your combat needs. Next chapter is just going to be one big fight between the Good Guys and Salem.**

 **To Kingofclubs8129: I definitely agree with you on that. In the show especially, Blake is out of her league when it comes to Adam. From what we've seen at least. In this, I decided to go with a bit of the Kingdom Hearts logic in that you get stronger when you confront your Darkness rather than run from it, a big thing for Blake. When Sun got hurt, her Darkness flared up but she stayed in control, giving her what she needed to take Adam down.**

 **To CHAOSMarauder: Morrigan's future will be a big part of the reason for the core events in the epilogue. She and Yang have only crossed blades once so far, and I couldn't see someone obsessed with her own life and goals willing to team up with someone trying to destroy reality.**

 **To gamelover41592: Thanks!**


	40. We're Never Alone!

_**Chapter 40: We're Never Alone!**_

Sora and Ruby wasted no time in attacking Salem again. The two of them launched themselves at the ancient witch, their Keyblades glowing bright white with Light energy that elongated the weapons and made them much more dangerous. Sora went high, jumping high into the air with his weapon raised above his right shoulder; his face was locked in a determined snarl as he flew towards Salem. Ruby, meanwhile, attacked low. She sprinted at Salem's legs, crouching as she ran. The tip of her Keyblade dragged against the ground, carving a line in the crystal at her right side. Ruby's face was determined, her glowing eyes filled with determination made even stronger by the silvery light. Ozpin stood still, waiting for an opening to help the two young warriors without getting in their way. Emerald... had disappeared from sight.

Salem took a half step back, her smirk remaining plastered on her face. She tossed one of the Key shaped hatchets at Ruby, letting the silver and gold weapon arc towards the young woman. Ruby brought her Keyblade up and slapped the attack away. Her Keyblade rested above her left shoulder for a moment before she jumped forward, turning into a torpedo of rose petals tipped with a silvery point. Salem summoned the hatchet back to her hand and dashed to the side, avoiding Ruby's attack. Simultaneously, she turned towards Sora and threw one of the hatchets again, this time coated in flames. Sora raised his hand and caught the spinning weapon by its handle, then tossed it right back at its owner.

That was when Ozpin decided to strike. She was off balance from her dodge and was going to have to deal with the incoming projectile, too; she was open. He launched himself forward at full speed, the tip of his cane moving faster than almost anyone could react. Salem just scoffed and waited for him to strike, simply summoning up a Reflega wall as the two attacks closed in on her. Ozpin was thrown across the arena by an explosion of Light, sending him over the edge. He barely caught the edge in time to save himself, slamming his cane through the smooth, purple crystal before he could fall too far. The hatchet, meanwhile, flew back at Sora fast enough that he barely was able to bring the Master Keeper up in time to block the attack. The sudden rebounding and multiplication of the attack's force caused him to lose his momentum and flip mid air. He began to fall to the ground back first.

Salem summoned the hatchet back to her hand and smirked at the the two men she had easily slapped away. She was a little too engrossed in this moment, however, allowing Ruby the time to slash upward with her Keyblade just as the Reflect wall disappeared. Salem turned just in time for the attack to slam into her chin, sending her spinning straight up. Salem felt a smile tug at her lips because of the pain flowering in her face. She tightened her leash on Summer's Heart once more, something she had been required to do often ever since seeing the Princess of Heart for the first time, and a scowl replaced the smile.

Salem then dismissed the hatchets and returned the Kingdom Key to its natural form. She twirled the weapon and used its power to stop her spinning. Sora had already recovered, returning to his feet and running over to help Ozpin back up onto the arena. Salem's eyes sparked and she raised the tip of the Kingdom Key, aiming it down at the three warriors. A bright white orb of Light appeared at the tip of the weapon, power radiating from it, and she twisted the Key to send them flying.

However, just as that happened, she felt her weapon be tugged in another direction. The beam of energy flew wide, flying across the battlefield and into a mass of Grimm and Heartless. The area of the collision went silent for a moment, then exploded violently from her power. "Cinder's child," Salem noted. She reached down with her left hand and yanked hard. Emerald flew upwards, yelping as she was torn from the ground. Chains appeared around the Keyblade and in Salem's fistas the young woman's concentration was broken and she grew ever closer, face approaching Salem's.

Salem dismissed her weapon but held tight on the chains. "Thunder," Salem said simply, and yellow electricity arced from her palm, down the length of the weapon in an instant. Emerald screamed out in pain as the energy coursed through her and forced her hands to tighten around the handles of her weapons. This effect lasted long enough that she had no time to release her kurasigama so she could dodge Salem's fist. Emerald flew down and slammed into the crystal beside Mercury. She wasn't moving when she hit the surface, though her Aura had yet to disappear.

Sora was the one who rushed over to her side. "Heal!" he shouted, a Curaga appearing around the girl. It would not wake her up to help fight, but he supposed it was better that she and Mercury were out of this fight. They weren't on this level.

"Sora, Keychain!" Sora looked over at Ruby and nodded. He stood up and cracked his neck, then sprinted forward to gain momentum, at which point he jumped as high up as he could. Given he was a Keyblade Wielder, this was quite the considerable distance. Ruby leaped up after him, just a moment behind. Sora turned and held his hand out, grabbing onto her outstretched arm, at which point he spun and tossed her straight at Salem. Ruby doubled her speed with her Semblance, turning into a red beam that streaked past Salem before the ancient warrior. Ruby grabbed hold of the woman to stop herself, then brought her Keyblade down in a two handed blow. Salem raised her Keyblade and blocked the attack, but was still sent plummeting like a stone towards Sora.

He pointed his Keyblade at her falling body. "Fire!" he screamed. A ball of flames exploded from the end of his weapon and flew towards Salem, crashing into her. The flames exploded upon contact, engulfing her completely and leaving behind a cloud of smoke. The smoke had barely drifted apart before Salem tore through it like a rocket. Sora raised his weapon and used it to slap the incoming attack, letting him move to the side to avoid the attack. He used the movement to spin and brought his own attack around in response. She blocked it with the guard of the Kingdom Key. She flipped when distance was placed between them and landed softly on the crystal below.

She turned upon seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, slapping Ozpin's cane clean out of his hands. His eyes widened in surprise and fear as Salem turned into a back kick. Ozpin heard something in his body snap, a rib probably, and he keeled over at the sudden explosion of pain. He rolled across the arena until hitting the crystal covered **χ** -blade. "Come now, Ozpin, is this truly the best that you and your students can do?" she mocked, an evil grin stretching across her face.

"We're just getting warmed up!" Salem looked up at the source of the voice. Sora had his weapon leveled on her again, though this time a swirling mass of multicolored energy was amassed around the end of the blade. "Ragnarok!" The thin beams of energy exploded outward, swirling around and outward for a moment before seemingly locking on to Salem. The woman's eyes widened; she had not expected that. She raised her left hand, forcing a slab of crystal to rocket upwards and block the first group of needle thin beams.

That did not stop the rest of them from spiraling through the air in every direction, moving to enclose her. She turned and sprinted to one side of the arena. She slid to her side and off the edge, simultaneously casting a weak and continuous Gravity spell on the side of the structure. Her feet were dragged, slowly at first but increasingly fast, towards the wall. Some of the remaining streams crashed into the crystal above her, but she was already running down the wall. She glanced over her shoulder for a moment; maybe a quarter of the beams had been destroyed, but the rest were still following her closely. "This is becoming increasingly annoying," she growled to herself. "How long am I going to have to wait for Oz's children to fill out the **χ** -blade?"

"Long enough." Ruby appeared in front of Salem in a blur of black lines. Her Keyblade slashed at the ancient witch's throat, close enough that Salem was forced to fall to her back and slide past the attack. Ruby pulled herself onto the wall as well and began to attack Salem as they ran down the crystal, their Keyblades slamming into one another with enough force to generate lightning that pulverized the crystal around them. "Now let my mom go!" Ruby flipped forward, coating her Keyblade in Blizzard magic that made her two handed blow even more powerful.

"But she's still so important," Salem responded, her voice a mocking snarl. She used the Kingdom Key to just barely deflect the attack, letting the magical blade crash into the wall of the crystalline temple. Spikes of ice shot upward, erupting from the ground for a dozen feet. Salem jumped to the other side of the icicles and continued running even as another group of the energy beams exploded against the ice. Salem turned around when she heard the explosion and began to slide backwards, Keyblade raised to block Ruby's incoming attack. The weapons _clang_ ed when they collided and a shower of golden sparks flew out from the point of contact. Salem shoved through the younger woman's continued force, slapping the red Keyblade to the side and providing Salem with a large opening for an attack. She stabbed forward with the Kingdom Key, fast enough that Ruby's dodge wouldn't matter –!

The Kingdom Key slid between Ruby's arm and her body, uselessly avoiding damaging the young woman in the least. Salem's face grew stony so the young Keyblade Wielder would not realize the tremendous advantage that she had. It seemed that no matter how tightly the chains were wrapped around Summer Rose's metaphorical throat, nor how high the walls were that surrounded her will, she retained an annoying level of control over their shared Heart and body in regards to Ruby Rose. It sickened Salem, who wanted to simply break Summer's considerable will and destroy the young woman completely, that she had to instead take this defeat as given. It would only endanger her plans, at the moment, to engage in a battle for control simultaneous with that for the **χ** -blade.

Salem pulled the Kingdom Key back and brought her free hand forward to slam into Ruby's midsection. The young woman yelped and was thrown up the wall, passing the remaining streams of Ragnarok energy during her ascent; Salem turned and began to run down the crystal once more. She narrowed her eyes when she saw Sora appear as a blur of lines at the bottom of the wall. He buried his Keyblade in the crystal and twisted it, the move causing a large fissure in the purple substance. The growing crack and the sharp, jutting fragments that accompanied it flew towards Salem, obscuring the young man from view and giving her a way to easily destroy the last of the multicolored energy following her. She jumped away from the crystal structure just as the fissure was a few feet in front of her, cutting the flow of magic to her feet so she could put distance between the wall and herself. The beams turned to follow, but the fissure continued, stone rising to block their path.

It seemed that Sora was slightly more intelligent than she gave him credit for, however. She was at her most vulnerable, still spread-eagle in the air and soaring away from the crystal, when he made his move. Sora moved with a speed that only a Keyblade Master – or Ruby – could manage, and threw himself into the air beside her. He grinned, appreciating the coming victory despite knowing it was a small one, and slammed a two handed Keyblade strike into the small of Salem's back. The creator of the first Keyblades could not contain an exclamation that came with the sudden spike of pain, her back arching at an incredibly painful angle for a brief moment despite the strength and durability afforded her by her weapon. Another noise of pain, almost the same as the first, escaped her lips when she slammed into the ground below.

She rolled to the side, expecting Sora to try another attack while she was distracted. A glowing white blade slammed into the ground where she had been lying. Salem made it up to her feet, flipping up with her open palm, and launched a burning Firaga at the young man crouching on the ground. He turned and narrowed his eyes, summoning a gleaming dome of Light around his body. The fire spell rebounded off of the Reflega and rocketed back at Salem, though the woman easily slapped it away with the Keyblade. The fire soared upward, exploding when sufficiently far from its caster. "You can't think you're going to win."

Salem smiled and stood up to her full height, flourishing the Kingdom Key out to her side. "I can't?" She inquired. She disappeared and reappeared in a blur of black lines, slashing down at Sora with her weapon. The young man rolled forward to dodge the attack, moving beneath the woman to avoid the blow. He grabbed onto the woman's cape when he rolled up to his feet, then yanked on it. Still in the air, Salem was thrown out of balance. She flailed backwards on instinct, trying to hit Sora so she could escape. He dodged the attacks before tensing his legs and leaping straight up. The air whipped around the two as they ascended, filling the world with whistling.

Salem grunted when she was suddenly slammed into the top of the crystal structure once again, the force cracking the surface beneath her. Sora confirmed what she had asked, a triumphant grin on his face: "You can't." He twirled his Keyblade in front of him, Ruby leaping up to his side and doing the same. They were back to back, Sora with his weapon in his right hand and Ruby with hers in her left. The two of them aimed their weapons at the same time, brilliant balls of Light appearing and merging. "You really can't." Then the orbs of Light exploded as one and flew towards the enemy woman, consuming the region where she had been laying. The two fell to the ground and watched the purple cloud, knowing this couldn't be the end, because it was never the end when a cloud of dust was involved.

"Finally." Ah, there it was. The smoke cleared, pushed away by the sudden upward movement of a pillar of crystal. Sora and Ruby saw debris and detritus begin to fall towards the place where Ozpin was working on freeing Mercury with the now awake Emerald. The two Keyblade Wielders shot towards their allies, easily destroying the falling crystals. Ruby watched for more falling crystal while Sora moved over to Mercury and slashed away the crystals holding him down. He wasn't awake yet, but it wasn't like he would be much help. Sora and Ruby both waited another moment for more falling crystals, then ran up the new pillar together when no more appeared. They reached the top at the same time and stood with their weapons at the ready. They froze when they saw what was waiting for them.

Salem was aiming her weapon at her own chest, a wild grin on her face. The **χ** -blade was buried in the crystal right beside her. "Your friends have done everything that I needed them to do," Salem said victoriously. Sora and Ruby watched her with wide eyes, somehow afraid that the woman would follow through on what she was about to do unless they stood still. They knew that was stupid, but it was an irrational thought clinging to the back of their minds. Salem's fingers loosened then tightened around the teeth of the Kingdom Key, causing the warriors to flinch forward a step. She smiled cruelly. "Stop." Sora and Ruby stopped moving midstep, the unseen force of magic keeping them stuck in place.

"The **χ** -blade is nearly complete. More than a dozen Hearts of Darkness have now filled its form alongside six Hearts of Light. Lucky me that I have one more that I need to get rid of right here." Then Salem plunged the weapon into her own chest. Ruby, frozen by the spell holding her, could not even widen her eyes in terror and rage. She wanted to cry as she saw the pure, white Light that was her mother's Heart, but she couldn't. She couldn't do anything.

The Heart floated just above the tip of the Kingdom Key, held in place by the unseen will of Salem. The ancient witch turned the blade around and grasped the handle of the weapon, brandishing the Heart that was connected to it. She aimed the glowing orb at the **χ** -blade and it floated off, spiralling under Salem's control until it was absorbed by the ancient weapon in a dim burst of Light. The **χ** -blade flared to life, the crystal around it vaporized suddenly. It was gleaming, the rust and decay that had overtaken it now gone. The blade was a gleaming white, the keys that formed the handle were a brilliant gold. A rainbow of colors shined out from the snowflake like design that made up a majority of the weapon's body.

Salem tossed the Kingdom Key aside, letting the now useless weapon tumble down from the considerable heights that she stood. The ancient witch moved then towards the **χ** -blade, placing the handle beside her right palm with a slow, deliberate appreciation for what was happening. "I did not truly appreciate this moment, last time," she said. Her voice was quiet, filled with awe and joy. Her fingers closed one after another around the handle, each taking their time. "But now I..." She pulled the weapon from the crystal. "Now, I win." She raised the blade to the sky; a huge stream of Light shot from the tip of the **χ** -blade, arcing through the sky towards the broken moon. Accompanying this shot was an explosion of air, back blast from the stream. The crystal beneath Salem's feet shattered, the break continuing down the crystal and into the main structure. Soon, the entire structure was falling apart.

The Stop wore off then; Sora and the others flew away from her, the result of the sudden explosion of air. The two tumbled away, different emotions filling their eyes. Ruby was equally distraught and filled with rage, the righteous anger of one who had just had one that they loved torn away from them before their eyes. She had not been fully aware of how much she had hoped her mother could be freed until right then, and it hurt; all she could do was try to make sure her mother did not die in vain. Sora, meanwhile, had grown more determined and perhaps slightly worried. The **χ** -blade was a dangerous weapon in anyone's hands, not the least those of a woman they had been struggling to defeat when she used only a Keyblade.

Salem watched the stars and moon begin to come together into Kingdom Hearts, the source of all power. The terror and confusion that filled the entire She floated in the place where she had stood moments earlier, and watched the Heart of All Things return from death. She raised the **χ** -blade once again, summoning up the image of a Keyhole across the face of the glowing, Heart shaped moon. A less powerful, but equally foreboding, beam of Darkness appeared from the tip of the **χ** -blade, striking the moon. All around Remnant could be heard a single noise – the unlocking of a giant tumbler lock. Soon, a negative effect was encroaching on the moon: white became black and black became white.

Sora pushed himself out of the rubble, shoving large stones off of his body and looking around. Ruby and Ozpin were soon doing the same. They had been slightly faster than Sora, using a Reflega to defend themselves and, in Ozpin's case, Emerald and the still unconscious Mercury. Sora was fine, but it was still hurt a little. His eyes caught sight of Kingdom Hearts and he gulped down fear in his throat. What was happening to it? "Sora, do you see that?" Ozpin asked.

"What is that?" Ruby asked.

"This is the only world remaining. By unlocking its Heart to Darkness, Salem has unlocked all of Kingdom Hearts to the Darkness," Ozpin explained. He glanced at the ground. "We have lost."

There was a brief pause. "Not if we get the **χ** -blade from her," Ruby said resolutely, turning her anger and pain at what had happened to her mother into defiant strength.

Ozpin sighed. "How, though?" he asked, despite knowing it was a foolish inquiry.

Sora grinned and shrugged. All he knew was that it was way too early to give up hope. "We can do it. Just make sure everybody else is okay. Please Oz?" Sora asked when he saw the worried face that the man in green was giving him. The man acquiesced upon seeing the resolute bravery in Sora's eyes. He aided Emerald in lifting Mercury, and ran off to find their remaining allies. He knew: it was this or death. He would do the difficult thing, just as he had told Salem he would, and believe.

Salem finally took note of the warriors so far below. They had been a threat before this, but now? Now they were more of a nuisance. Still, she would not underestimate them as she had in their prior life. They deserved her full, deadly attention. With a moment of concentration, she flew towards the ground faster than Sora or Ruby could react. The **χ** -blade's pommel slammed into Sora's midsection, sending him flying back a dozen feet. Crystal fragments exploded where he bounced, purple Dust clouds trailing behind him. From that attack, Salem slashed down slightly slower with her weapon to test that Summer Rose's Heart was no longer in control.

Indeed, she was not. The **χ** -blade slammed into Ruby's clumsy block and the young woman's Keyblade was torn from her grip, slamming into the ground at her feet. Ruby dashed backwards, turning into a torpedo of rose petals. As she tried to escape, she summoned her weapon back to her hand with a gesture.

But Salem was prepared for that. She was already in Ruby's path before the young woman could regain her feet. The **χ** -blade slammed into the girl's back, causing the young woman's velocity to completely reverse. "Hmm... I thought that would bisect you," Salem noted. She placed the tip of the weapon into the ground. "I must not be at my full strength yet." She lifted the weapon and returned her attention to the place where the two younger warriors stood at the ready.

"So... I don't know if I saw her move," Sora said.

"Good, I was worried it was just me." The two of them grimaced worriedly. Ruby looked at Sora out of the corner of one glowing eye. "You have any ideas?"

"I was kind of hoping that you did," Sora said. His grip on his Keyblade tightened. "Okay, how about this... for now let's just work on getting the **χ** -blade away from her. We need to reverse whatever it was she did to Kingdom Hearts."

"That's not a plan. That's a goal."

Sora groaned. "It's the best I've got right now." Then he launched himself at Salem, sweeping the Master Keeper around to crash into the **χ** -blade's block. Ruby came around the other side, slashing with her own weapon at the woman's head. Salem's hand simply came up to block the attack, wrapping around the Keyblade. She turned around the **χ** -blade, slamming Ruby into Sora like a bat. The young man rolled across the ground a few feet before getting to his feet. Salem turned again and threw Ruby directly at Sora, who caught her and stumbled backwards again. He turned around, following an explosion of instinct in the back of his mind, and his weapon blocked a powerful, two handed blow from Salem's **χ** -blade. He grit his teeth, ignoring the intense pain of the weapon shuddering in his hand.

Ruby jumped off of him and slashed upward at Salem's throat, the blow landing against a Reflect hexagon. Ruby yelped in pain as the force of the blow was redirected back at her. Salem kicked Sora away and turned to slash at Ruby's throat. The young woman ducked just in time and dashed into Salem's knees, her weapon slamming into the ancient witch's legs and causing the older woman to flip where she was and land face first in the ground. Ruby was already dashing away, retreating temporarily to where Sora was forcing himself back up to his feet. "I think she's hitting me harder," Sora grumbled. He frowned. "Just like before..."

A small, hopeful smile tugged the corners of Ruby's lips up. "You don't think she's –"

Sora glanced up, thinking. _Summer's in the_ _ **χ**_ _-blade_. "I do."

"It's the best we've got," Ruby said, shrugging. She looked over at Salem, who was walking slowly, threateningly towards them. This was a battle of attrition for the white haired witch; victory would come if she killed the two or waited them out. "We've been going about this wrong – I'll distract, you attack."

"We'll have to try our hardest, then," Sora said. He swept his free hand out to the side and a bright flash of white appeared around his hand. The Kingdom Key appeared out of the bright flash, and Sora slammed the two Keyblades together. A bright Light traveled down the length of the Master Keeper from his right hand, jumping from Keyblade to Keyblade at the end and traveling back up to his left hand. The Kingdom Key shivered, and all of a sudden it was as if a weight was lifted from the Keyblade. It was as if this weight that had always been there but he had never noticed, like he had believed the Keyblade was meant to feel that way. All of a sudden, Sora was the sole master of two of the most powerful Keyblades ever crafted.

Ruby smiled. "Nice to have it back?" she asked. Sora grinned and nodded while Ruby twirled her Keyblade over her head, causing her weapon to glow a bright red and shift its shape into that of a massive scythe. She rested Crescent Rose over her shoulders and the two looked up at the moon. The Darkness had encroached on almost half of Kingdom Hearts' surface, turning the moon an evil tone of pitch covered with bright white lines. They had to hurry. Ruby fired off an explosive Firaga from the tip of her scythe and flew towards Salem at full speed, turning into a torpedo of roses that moved almost as fast as Salem could. Still, the woman was able to raise the mythical weapon and block the attack.

The end of Ruby's scythe looped around the **χ** -blade, letting the young woman aim the end of her weapon directly at Salem's face. "Slow!" Salem grunted angrily at the sudden spell. Her body was no longer responding as quickly as it should have, though given the power of the weapon in her hands it only made her as slow as a Keyblade Wielder.

Against these two, that was nowhere near fast enough.

Sora appeared beside her, moving with the speed of _two_ Keyblades. Salem snarled and slashed upward, her speed slowly increasing as the spell on her began to wear off. The Kingdom Key slammed into the snow flake at the center of the **χ** -blade, slapping the weapon away from Salem and giving him and opening to attack. The Master Keeper shot forward, tip slamming into Salem's throat. The woman's black and red eyes widened in surprise as her windpipe was suddenly forced shut, and her mind filled with terror for a split second. Her instincts took over and she channeled an explosion of energy from her skin. Darkness flared up around her, forcing both Keyblade Wielders to raised their weapons defensively to keep from being thrown away. Sora's two weapons crossed in an 'X' in front of him, their power doing away with a majority of the Darkness coming his way. Meanwhile, Ruby brought the bottom of her weapon up and around. The handle split the Darkness around her. The two of them were only forced back perhaps six feet, rather than being thrown across the entire battlefield.

Sora counter attacked as quickly as he could. He slammed the teeth of the Kingdom Key into those of the Master Keeper, chaining the weapons together, and gripped the handle of the Master Keeper with both hands. He swung as powerfully as he could, the force of the attack colliding with the **χ** -blade causing an explosion of air to continue past Salem. The ground surrounded by that air began to sink, crumbling from the vibrations that had just traveled across its surface. The Dust in the ground exploded, doing nothing to either warrior in this fight.

Ruby swept at Salem's legs with her Keyblade-scythe, using spells to increase the speed of the weapon in her hands so the ancient witch wouldn't be able to dodge. But dodge the woman did. She stepped _on top_ of the blade, letting it move her out of Sora's path. She jumped from the scythe when it was pointed away from Sora, soaring away and aiming her weapon at the two children. A burst of spherical flames erupted from the weapon, six total, and began to hone in on the younger warriors. Ruby sprinted away, causing three to peel off and follow her. Sora ran right at the three that were aimed at him, a defiant grin on his face. He sliced cleanly through the first with the Kingdom Key and whirled unharmed through the resulting explosion. For the next one, he fired his own Blizzaga from the Master Keeper; the fire hissed and created a steam cloud where the spells had collided. The Keyblades crossed as he jumped out of the steam, a thin wall of Reflega hexagons appearing to reverse the course of the attack completely.

Sora was on top of Salem in another moment. He swung with a pair of overhead slashes, his twin Keyblades crashing into the **χ** -blade as one. The weapons rang out with a bright peal that almost sounded like Light made physical. "You understand that you are merely delaying the inevitable. You cannot defeat me."

"Really?" he asked cockily, his trademark wild grin on his face. Sora jumped back a half step and began to unleash an onslaught of attacks on his enemy. The Kingdom Key rained down, slamming into the **χ** -blade's horizontal flat. Sora turned as soon as the collision happened, spinning around to slash at Salem with an attack parallel to the **χ** -blade itself. She moved fast enough to block the attack, though only just. Was... was he growing faster, somehow?

"Submit!" She shoved the young man back a step and slashed down at him, a two handed diagonal blow moving at his left shoulder. He jumped to the side and slapped the attack past him, then stabbed at Salem's head. She moved her head to the side to just barely avoid the attack, then spun and slashed at Sora much as he had at her. He flipped while midair to avoid the attack slashed with both weapons at the same time. Salem brought up the **χ** -blade and took the blow. She clarified her earlier statement: "You cannot defeat me alone!"

Sora grinned and jumped away from her, performing a backflip just for kicks. He pointed his left shoulder at Salem and slowly raised the Kingdom Key in the same direction. "And just who said I'm alone?" Salem's eyes grew wide. Again? This was going to happen _again?_ She swore to herself when she saw ethereal figures appear behind Sora. First appeared Qrow, Jaune, Ren, and Nora. Then Sun, Neptune, Ozpin, Yang, Blake, and Weiss. Countless people she had never seen before, Keyblades and weapons resting atop their shoulders or at their sides. Six in particular stood out to her, the spitting images of Ozpin's first students. This young man had far more people in his Heart than even the Thief had managed. "My friends are always in my Heart, so I'll never be alone." Then he leaped towards the woman once more, slashing in a precise, but powerful series of attacks. Every move seemed to be paralleled by one of the specters his Heart was projecting, the blow made all the stronger for it.

Jaune watched the fight with wide eyes, standing between his team mates and his father. "Do you think they can do it?" Argent asked simply, his eyes fixing on the brown haired young man striking as hard as he could in an attempt to disarm the ancient witch.

Jaune glanced at the ground. If they didn't, it was his fault. He'd managed to screw everything up. _What did I do, Pyrrha?_ He asked. And he couldn't even do anything to help. If he tried to fight Salem, the Darkness would just fill him up again. He couldn't let that happen. So he stood where he was, paralyzed with fear and self doubt.

"Those two? Sora's good, and I trained Ruby myself," Qrow said, a smirk gracing his features. Jaune knew that the man wasn't going to lie or try to sugar coat this at all, no matter what he said. His crimson eyes, though, looked sad. As if he was sure someone he loved was going to die today. "Honestly, I'd be more surprised if they didn't pull it off."

Sora continued his continuous assault on the ancient Keyblade Master, not letting the woman have a single opening through which to attack him. Every blow was aimed at disarming her and stealing the **χ** -blade so he could save Kingdom Hearts, a time barrier they were quickly pressing up against. The Kingdom Key and the Master Keeper moved like lightning, each strike moving fluidly into the next so he could easily attack the woman. "I'm going to stop you from hurting anyone. Ever again." He twirled, channeling a massive amount of Light energy into his twin Keyblades, and delivered a powerful simultaneous blow to the **χ** -blade; this initiated a blade lock and the two warriors began to push against one another.

"You cannot be serious," Salem laughed dryly. She pushed against him while staring into his blue, determined eyes. He was planning something. But what could it be? What could this boy alone accomplish? The **χ** -blade in her hands grew warm for a moment and she realized it did not matter. "I am a god."

"That's what Xehanort said. Three times." Sora kicked the woman away and threw both her Keyblades at her, grinning as they began to respond to his mental commands. They spun like the blades of saws, spinning around the woman and attacking her from every direction. "And I beat him. Three times." Sora rushed forward, his fists placed together at his right side. He began to channel Light energy through his palms, forcing a blade of pure Light to appear in his grasp, and he used this weapon to slash upward when he got close enough to Salem. She tried to dodge, but the blade elongated suddenly and caught her by the chin. She was sent flying, world a blur until she used the power of the **χ** -blade to stop her momentum.

Sora leaped after her, confidence flooding out of his every feature. His first Keyblade collided with the **χ** -blade, and Salem angled the weapon to force the Master Keeper to slide away uselessly. Sora slashed down with the Kingdom Key, and that was when the momentum shifted once more. The **χ** -blade moved faster than even the master of twin Keyblades could react, and he suddenly found himself on his back, laying on the ground. His brain was tingling, trying to process something that it didn't understand. "W-what?" he muttered. He looked to his right, seeing the Master Keeper clutched in his fist. He blinked once and rolled, using the weapon to push himself to his feet. He used Curaga as he stood, healing whatever had been done to him. Still, the feeling persisted. He looked down, trying to understand what had happened, and he saw his left hand on the ground, the Kingdom Key still held in his white knuckled grip. His eyes widened in surprise. "That -" He was cut off by a woman's foot slamming into his face, and he was thrown away once more.

"It's always a dozen feet with you two," Salem noted, glaring down at Sora. She opened her mouth to say more, but froze. Two. She looked around. "Two... Where is the girl?"

"Right behind you." Salem spun as quickly as she could, just in time to see the determined Silver Eyed warrior disappear in a blur of black lines. She was replaced by a trio of Firaga spheres, each moving too fast to suddenly change directions. With as close as the fast moving Firaga Burst had gotten to her, Salem could not move in time so the spells she had cast with the **χ** -blade crashed into her. She stumbled back a step with each blow, dazed every time. Ruby reappeared in front of her, a few feet away. "SLOW!"

Salem snarled when the spell took effect; it was stronger than the last, forcing her to a metaphorical crawl. They had planned this? Why hadn't she thought of the girl, why hadn't she been paying attention to Ruby?! Salem's mind drifted to the **χ** -blade, where Summer Rose's Heart rested. _NO!_

"NOW!" Ruby screamed, lowering the scythe to her left side.

Sora's voice was hoarse with pain, but the word that came out was clear and filled with the righteous rage of a thousand Keyblade Masters fighting the Darkness. A red glint appeared at the end of his Keyblade as it was leveled at Salem. " _ **FIRAZA!**_ "

The ground beneath Salem exploded, and something even hotter than fire filled her entire world. Lava, freed from the physical mantle of Remnant, surrounded her like a pillar of destruction. She would have screamed out in pain, but she was moving far too slowly to do anything of the kind. Everything was still pain, just pain and the smell of melting flesh. She used the **χ** -blade and her force of will to keep herself together despite the attack, but she could feel herself slipping. Her grip on the **χ** -blade was loosening with every moment she was engulfed in the eruption. Or were they really moments? Was it really just the pain making every second a year? Eventually, the lava stopped streaming up from beneath Salem, and she began to fall forward. Her leg shot out to steady herself, and her arms fell limply to her sides.

This was just what Ruby needed. She dashed forward, rose petals spreading in her wake, and slashed the woman's wrist with all her might. The attack caused Salem's right hand to come off, a clean slice that was accompanied by a sudden spurt of blood. Ruby turned with her momentum and slammed the heel of her foot into the flat of the **χ** -blade's falling form, sending it flying right to Sora. He reached out for it, dismissing the Master Keeper from his sole remaining hand.

They were going to win. They were going to –!

"Well, then the least I can do is take one last thing from you!" Salem roared.

Sora's eyes widened when he heard Salem's scream of rage, and time began to slow around him. Her body was falling apart, the lava he had unleashed with his Firaza finally taking its toll without the **χ** -blade to protect her. She pulled her left hand up to her chest, grabbing her blackened Heart through sheer force of will. Ruby's eyes widened and she turned to try and run. Sora knew, though... she wouldn't be fast enough. He began to angle himself to save her, but he knew... he knew _he_ wouldn't be fast enough. But he also knew he couldn't stop himself from doing it.

Jaune knew it too. So, as soon as he had seen the Firaza and realized what the two Keyblade Wielders were going to do, he began to sprint towards Salem. He had spent more than enough time around the woman to know she would do the most spiteful thing she could do in order to ensure her victory. She would survive, especially if it meant the destruction of Sora or Ruby. She would win. Jaune was already diving between the two when Salem had thrown her Heart.

It hit the young man, and he fell to the ground with a quiet albeit Heart stopping thud.

Sora forced himself to keep moving despite the trouble his friend was in. He reached out with his hand just as he was about to pass the **χ** -blade, and with a single fluid movement aimed it up at the moon. The Darkness had nearly consumed Kingdom Hearts completely by this point, leaving nothing but a single, thin circle of Light surviving. If Jaune hadn't saved Ruby, Sora wouldn't have had the time to do this. A beam of Light flew from the tip of the **χ** -blade, colliding with Kingdom Hearts just as the Darkness was about to consume the last of the Light. In an instant, the Light returned to the surface of the Heart of All Things. Sora took a deep breath and smiled at the Heart shaped moon. Clouds soon began to drift in front of the moon. It was receding, disappearing once again.

Sora turned on his heel and sprinted towards where everyone was gathered around Jaune's body. "Jaune..." Sora breathed as he slid to a stop beside the young man. He took a worried breath; this was too familiar. He looked over at Ozpin, eyes begging for an answer. Ozpin simply shook his head. For once, he did not know what to do.

Thankfully, it appeared someone else did. The **χ** -blade pulled Sora toward Jaune, a brilliant blade of Light protruding from its form. "What's going on!?" Sora shouted. He reached back with his left arm, flailing until Ruby grabbed him. He continued to be dragged forward. Yang grabbed onto Ruby, then Blake and Yang. Then Ren, Nora, and everyone else until they were all struggling to help Sora stop moving. It was to no avail, however. The **χ** -blade was determined and buried itself in Jaune's Heart. Light exploded upon contact, and the world went white for the chain of people that had been struggling against its power.

 _ **R W B Y**_

" _You idiot boy!_ " Jaune flinched as another kick slammed into his face and he was sent sliding across the cracked, half blackened pillar that was his Heart. He stopped on top of what used to be Pyrrha's face, though it had been twisted into the facade of a monster... because of him. He had done terrible things _for_ Pyrrha. He knew now that... that she wouldn't have wanted him to do what he had done. She would have wanted him to be strong. He should have been more like Pyrrha.

Salem stomped after him, her eyes wide with rage. "You got in my way! Why would you get in my way!?"

Jaune didn't answer. He suspected that the woman already knew why he had done what he had done. Instead, he struggled to his feet and raised his fists. He was wearing his old armor, now, the white across his shoulders and chest dented and rusted by Darkness. Still, he wouldn't let this end. "Is that..." He clenched his teeth as the world threatened to go sideways, then shook his head. "Is that all you've got?"

Salem glowered down at Jaune. "You know what? It's not." She wasn't smiling, but Jaune could see some sort of perverse joy in her black eyes. She stepped towards Jaune and raised her hand towards him. Golden chains erupted from the ground around him, wrapping around his arms and throat. He was yanked to his knees, choking against the power now holding him down. Salem leaned down and gripped Jaune's hair, yanking on it until she had forced his eyes to meet hers. He was gritting his teeth, determined not to give the woman the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. "Do you want to know what I am going to do now? What I am going to do because you ruined my plans? A thousand years of plans? Yes, Sora and Ruby disarmed me, but I had won. He would not have had the time to stem the tide of Darkness had I taken her body. But instead I took yours and Kingdom Hearts is gone. It will take another thousand years for me to attain what I need once more! An eternity more of planning because of you! Do you want to know what is a fair trade for what you have done?"

Jaune snarled at her, remaining defiant.

"I am going to go to your home, to the people you love the most." Jaune felt his blood chill as she began to speak. "And I am going to make you watch what I do. I'm going to make you watch as _you_ slaughter them each. One. By. One. Your hands will _bathe_ in the blood of your sisters. You will slash your own father to pieces. And with the Keyblade, you shall unlock your own mother's Heart to the Darkness."

Jaune could feel tears streaming from his face now. He was able to get words out through sheer force of rage. "I won't let you..." he gurgled through the chain wrapped tight around his throat.

Salem smiled at that, a smile that curdled Jaune's blood. "And that matters how? You can't stop me, all alone in your broken little Heart."

"Didn't I just finish telling you that people like us are never alone?"

Salem stood up straight and turned slowly towards the source of the voice. Sora stood there, arms crossed over his chest and a smug grin on his face. Ruby was beside him, her eyes resolute. Qrow, smirking, and the other children standing at their sides. Jaune's team mates took a few steps forward, intent on protecting their friend. And Oz, he was just glaring at Salem with that same disappointment filling his features as a thousand years earlier.

Salem looked at the faces all around her. "You can't stop me. Because of my connection with Ozpin, his immortality of the body means the immortality of my Heart." she said. She moved behind Jaune and grabbed his hair again, yanking his head to the side. He grit his teeth again and only let out a small hiss of pain. "Besides, I have far more practice in controlling Hearts than any of you do." She raised her free hand, causing huge, impenetrable walls of steel to divide the Heart in two. She looked down at Jaune. "Now... time for the two of us to get close."

"Unfortunately for you, I won't let that happen."

"Always with the dramatic interruptions," Salem muttered, turning around. She frowned. "And who are you?"

The young woman glared at Salem, green eyes meeting red. The young warrior's scarlet hair cascaded down her back, the long and loose style unlike how she had worn it in life. Her bronze armor was gleaming with Light that made it almost seem golden. A red sash hung from her hips, swaying in some unfelt wind like a hero's cape. "Pyrrha Nikos." The young woman raised her left arm, and the shield that was on it, above and behind her. "Now get away from him."

"This... should not be possible," Salem noted quietly. This girl was supposed to be dead, her Heart cast into the cycle of rebirth. "You aren't a specter – you're actually here. How is your Heart in his?"

Pyrrha did not respond, instead opting to throw her shield straight at Salem's head. She sprinted after the disc flying at Salem, raising a javelin made of the same material as her armor above her head. She tossed the weapon at the ancient witch when the shield was swatted away, forcing the woman to take a step back to avoid the attack. The shield came around, sliding onto Pyrrha's arm, and the javelin bounced off of the pillar and back into her hand. She twirled the javelin at her side, changing its shape into that of a sword as she did, and lashed out at Salem's throat.

Salem raised her arm, materializing a longsword out of pure Darkness to block the blow. "Answer my question!" she snapped, forcing Pyrrha's attack away. She summoned another blade of Darkness to her off hand and began to slash at the dead woman trying to save Jaune.

On the other side of the steel wall, Sora and the others were trying to break the wall, slamming their weapons against it to no avail. "Jaune, we're coming!" they would shout, not knowing whether or not he could hear them on the other side of the wall, but taking comfort in trying nonetheless. The assault on the wall continued unabated. None was trying harder than Argent, who was slamming into the wall with the full force his Heart could muster. Still, to no avail.

"We're never going to get through like this," Sora growled to himself. They had to figure another way around the wall. He turned around when he felt a bright Light brush against him. "What was –"

The Light moved and he watched it approach Ruby. "What is that?" he wondered aloud. The others stopped attacking the wall, wondering what Sora was looking at, and followed his gaze. Ruby blinked and turned around, finding herself face to face with her mirror image.

Everyone was silent, unsure if they were seeing what they were seeing. "Summer?" It was Qrow's voice that broke the silence, and it caused the woman to turn her eyes on him. She shut her silver eyes and smiled kindly, if somewhat timidly, at him. Qrow took a few steps towards her. "Summer is that you?"

"Who else would it be, Birdy?" Summer mocked good naturedly. She walked over to the stunned man and placed her hand on his arm. "I've missed you." She was a shorter than Qrow, forcing her to crane her neck to look up at him. She stretched up to her tip toes and kissed his cheek, a chaste but affectionate act. "I'm glad to see you."

Qrow bit his cheek and forced himself not to cry. He was too strong for that. It made Summer laugh, the noise bringing to Qrow's mind all their times together as kids. "Big and strong like always. I'm glad to see you haven't changed too much, even if you did find someone." Qrow smiled sadly. Summer shook her head. "I approve." She hugged her old partner one more time, whispering into his ear. "Good bye." She lingered, hugging her old friend, then walked towards Ruby.

Summer and her daughter were standing eye to eye, Ruby with tears streaming from hers and Summer's filled with a smile that held back tears. To break the tension that was holding them both to silence, Summer decided to quote a song that she and her daughter had listened to together many times. She thought it described her feelings quite well. "'I wanna tell you that you're all that ever mattered. Want you to know that for eternity I'm shattered. I tried so hard just to protect you, but I failed to...'"

"Mom..." Ruby cried, jumping forward into her mother's arms. Ruby gripped the elder Rose around the neck with her arms and Sora knew, in that moment, she would never want to let go. He also knew that, with her body now gone, Summer would never return. Ruby began to cry into her mother's shoulder, the sounds muffled. Sora walked over, letting Ruby now he was there with her but nothing else. She deserved that this moment be just hers.

Summer glanced over at the young man, studying his features, then turned back to her daughter and placed her lips atop the young woman's head. "It's time to save your friend, Rosebud," she said. She pushed her daughter away gently and smiled again, still holding back tears. "We don't have long."

Ruby looked down, wiping her face with the sleeve of her shirt. Finally, she looked up at her mother and nodded. Summer placed her hand on top of her daughter's head and ruffled her hair, smiling fondly at the look the young woman gave her, then stepped over to the wall. The woman coughed once, clearing away the emotion constricting her throat. "As a part of the **χ** -blade I can still use its power. For now. It's going to break apart soon," Summer explained as she placed her hand on the smooth surface. "And then I will have to leave."

Ruby looked at the ground, fighting back tears once more. She didn't want this, she didn't want her mother to leave again. "I'm sorry, Rosebud," Summer said quietly, then she poured the **χ** -blade's power into the destruction of the wall.

Salem glanced over at the wall as it began to disintegrate. "That isn't possible!" she screamed for the hundredth time since entering Jaune's Heart. She looked back at Pyrrha just in time to slap away the shield once more and block a slash of the short sword. She glowered at Pyrrha. "Do not interrupt me!" She forced the young woman back and began to attack again, shifting black blades slashing at the red heads throat. Pyrrha avoided the attacks like a professional, dodging and weaving until her shield returned and she blocked the last blow.

By this point, the wall was gone completely, and a pair of warriors flew through it. One wielded a hammer as large as she and the other a pair of bladed guns. The young man with the guns landed a kick to Salem's face, causing her to stumble backwards, at which point the young woman with the hammer brought her weapon down to flatten Salem. She rolled her eyes and held her hand up, catching the full force of the hammer. "I don't think you all understand," she snapped. She brought the hammer down and tossed the young man and woman away. She let the next blow from Pyrrha slam into her chest. It was painful, more painful than Salem had expected, but she ignored it. She turned towards Pyrrha instead of crying out and simply pulled the blade from her chest. _"_ **Like I said**. _.._ my Heart, much like dear old _Oz's_ body, is immortal. You can't defeat me, you cannot contain me. Eventually I will be forgotten and I will escape!"

"He didn't have the **χ** -blade then." Summer Rose walked across the remains of the barrier and stood solemnly in front of Salem.

Salem didn't even bother making the exclamation again. Instead, she buried her blade in Summer's gut. "No!"

Summer raised her hand at the group's exclamation. She turned to the side, revealing that the blade of Darkness had been completely destroyed. "Like I said, Salem, we have the **χ** -blade on our side." Then she slammed her fist into Salem's face, sending her stumbling to the side of the pillar. She stopped herself from going over, only for Summer's shoulder to slam into her midsection. Salem toppled over. Jaune yelped and was pulled to his back by his chains, forcing him to lay flat on his back, choking as they tightened around his throat.

"I'm not going to die," Salem stated simply, ignoring the weight of Summer Rose trying to drag her Heart to its next life and her Soul to the next plane of existence. Her hand was wrapped in a chain of glowing energy, the other end wrapped tightly around Jaune's throat. She put her other hand above the first and began to pull herself up. "I refuse to die!"

"Jaune..." Pyrrha muttered worriedly. She ran over to the choking young man and smiled. "Thank you for letting me stay just a little longer. I got to protect you a few more times." She looked over her shoulder at Nora and Ren, who were torn between being scared for Jaune and elated at seeing Pyrrha again. Pyrrha turned back to Jaune, who was staring at her with love filled eyes. "It's because I love you that I'm going to ask you to promise me something, okay, Jaune?" She waited until he nodded to continue. "Find someone else who completes you, okay? Don't make me the last person you love." She leaned down and let her lips touch Jaune's. It was passionate, enough so that time seemed to slow down around them. Despite that, it ended all too soon for the young man. Pyrrha stood up, drew her sword, and dove off the edge of the pillar.

The chain around Jaune's throat shattered, and every Heart that was not his own was expelled from his body.

 **AN: Sup.**

 **So, that's the climax of** ** _Smaller, More Honest Souls._** **I hope the battle was epic enough, because I tried to make it as epic and amazing as possible. Anyways, I know this doesn't exactly tie up all the loose ends or explanations, but that's what the Epilogue chapter is going to be for. This chapter was about the fight, pure and simple, and showing Jaune wants redemption so much he'd die for his friends. I hope you loved reading it, because I honestly loved writing it. Even some of my favorite chapters so far had a section or two that felt like a chore, but none of this chapter had that feeling. I couldn't stop writing, to be honest, until I finished.**

 **I'll save all the waxing poetic, as well as the grand reveal of the Spin-Quel's title, for the Epilogue. I'll at least say th the more I think about the title, the more I love it.**

 **And now, responses.**

 **To gamelover41592: I'm glad you liked chapter 39. I wanted to have a good send off for all the supporting cast, because they are some of my favorite fictional characters ever and they deserve to be as badass as possible all the time.**

 **To grimlock987: I honestly forgot about that until you reminded me, so thanks. I think it added in a level of seriousness and consequence for the fight, so I hope it doesn't seem forced. Don't worry, the Epilogue has a short time skip so we'll see Sora's and Sun's prosthetics in the next chapter.**

 **To Blazer777: I definitely get where you're coming from. Unfortunately, when I started writing the flashbacks, Back Cover hadn't come out yet, aside from trailers where the camera angles did very little to accurately display how tall the characters were in relation to one another. I understand not liking the whole integration thing, but I just wanted to do something different. There are so many great stories about Sora visiting a non-Disney and non-FF world that exist, I just wanted to do something different. And I agree, it would be annoying if KH3 ended with Xehanort escaping. Unless the final movie explained it really well.**

 **To warrior of six blades: Wow, that is the longest review you've given! Thanks for all the time you spent on it! I'm really happy that you liked all of the send off battles, I loved writing them too.**

 **To ReneTheKeyblader: I hope this was even more tense! If it was, the next chapter will be your wind down.**


	41. Epilogue: The Beginning

_**Epilogue: The Beginning...**_

 _Two Months Later..._

The crowd was large, a few thousand people perhaps, and made up almost entirely of dignitaries, Huntsmen, and corporate heads from around the world. Behind the stage where the podium rested one could see the remains of Beacon Academy and the construction equipment that was rebuilding it. Sora was sitting on one of the chairs placed atop the stage, close to the podium. He was wearing a new outfit, as almost everyone else his age was. He had a black and red shirt hidden beneath a two toned, short sleeved hoodie. One side was a dark black, the other a bright white. Gray-black hakama pants covered his legs, held tight at his waist by a red belt. As the chain had been destroyed during the battle with Salem, the belt was adorned with the crown emblem he had once worn as a necklace. His left shoulder, leading down to his prosthetic hand was covered in charcoal and red armor that flared out in his trademark crown design at the top with a large circle at the center.

To his left, enjoying the sunlight of late spring, was Ruby. She was wearing a similar outfit as she always did, accented by her red cape. Her jacket was gone, revealing the gray sweater-shirt that was tucked into leather vambraces. The shirt was mostly hidden behind her black and red battle skirt whose with a harness that looped around her shoulders and her upper arms and was accented with a belt laced with bullets. Her knee high boots covered her purposefully ripped stockings that ended a few inches below her skirt. She had a smaller, black and red piece of armor on her left shoulder, a circle of white graced with her Scatter insignia.

To her left was Weiss, wearing a blue and black miniskirt dress tied with a white cloth sash. The dress glittered in the sunlight, small, snowflake like designs shining in the blue. A dark gray-blue shrug with a large sapphire at the center clasp covered her shoulders and arms. Blake sat next to her, wearing a long white coat over a black croptop, a cat design made out of squares cut from the chest. She had dark black pants that were hidden beneath her thigh high black boots belted around her thigh. She had also gotten rid of her bow ever since defeating Adam. Yang was the last of RWBY in the line, wearing lblack pants and a long, tan—gold coat with orange lining and a golden border. She had a purple sash tied around her left knee, shortly above where her brown boots with bronze reinforced toes and heels ended. Her orange shirt peeked out slightly from beneath her diagonally zipped jacket and matched the top of the high collar the jacket had. A black glove covered the hand of her new arm, and her newly remade Ember Celica was placed over the bracers in their bracelet form. She had decided against integrating the weapon and the hand, saying something about how it was inevitable it would be destroyed again in a fight and she didn't want to have to rebuild the weapon again.

Nora sat beside her, dressed in a slightly more heavily armored outfit, though her ever bright color scheme remained. She had an Easter blue shirt on, six silver circles on her chest starting at either shoulder and continuing down to her belt. A pink bomber jacket with thin black stripes on the sleeves. It was tied over the silver, cell like armor on her arms by belt like black straps. Her hammer insignia was emblazoned on the back of the jacket in an out of place green and magenta. She had on bright pink, padded pants tucked into her white and black combat boots. Currently, she was twirling the magenta strands of Ren's hair around her finger. Speaking of the other, remaining half of Team JNPR, he was wearing a sleeveless long coat, this one closed over his black shirt. A magenta and black sash tightened over his midsection like a belt and held a few pouches emblazoned with a hot pink lotus flower. The sash held the pouches tight to the thighs of his pants. He had long, pink to black gradient detached sleeves ending with metal arm rings. His calf high, open toed sandals were completely still, the only one of them that was more than ready to enjoy some peace and quiet... outwardly, at least.

Sun and Neptune were the only ones of the younger warriors to not get new outfits. When asked they merely said, "Why mess with perfection?"

On the other side of the podium, Ozpin was sitting with a smile of freedom. The death of Salem seemed to have given him a new lease on life, freeing him from a duty he had spent a thousand years agonizing over. On top of that, the old man was not sure, but it also seemed that her death had freed him from his immortality. He was no longer healing as fast as he had become accustomed to, and he was starting to feel his outwardage for once. Glynda was sitting beside him, smirking at the man's smile despite herself. It was nice to see him happy for once.

Further down the line, Sora could see Qrow. His eyes were locked in their right corners, focused intently on the white haired woman sitting beside him. Winter and Qrow were talking under their breath, trying not to move or otherwise disturb the event. Given how Ironwood's and Taiyang's faces when they glanced over at the pair, it did not seem to be working.

Sora tightened his left hand around Ruby's, the padded palm of his red and gray prosthetic warm in her hand. She looked over at him and smiled. He knew she was still sad about her mom's death, but she wasn't showing it. She was too busy focusing on how happy she was to have one last chance to see the woman for real rather than as a puppet of Salem. "You aren't worried about tonight, are you?" Ruby whispered, laughter filling her voice.

Sora shook his head. "No, I think they'll be fine," he responded. He leaned back and shut his eyes. "I'm just enjoying the company."

"Oh... don't... shut up..." Ruby muttered, blushing as she always did at compliments.

Sora opened his eyes and sat up when he heard the crowd in front of the stage suddenly quiet down. Ozpin was standing at the podium, looking out over the people gathered there. His green suit was fluttering slightly in the wind and his cane was leaning against the podium. "I'll... keep this brief," he said, earning a laugh from everyone present that had attended Beacon under his tutelage. He smiled and waited for those rather boisterous people to quiet down. He cleared his throat and sighed. "For decades, I brought people to this school, to my school, in search of knowledge. The knowledge of who and what it would take to save the world and protect the people from a threat about which they knew nothing.

"It was this mistake that destroyed Beacon and pushed our world to its very brink. I... I am sorry. Had I given the truth to all who earned it, perhaps this evil would never have grown to such powerful heights and many lives that were lost would still remain." Ozpin glanced over his shoulder at Ruby for a moment before looking back at the crowd. "But still, you all thrived. You showed me hope in your strength and your desire to protect no matter the personal cost. It is a bit of a cliché to say this, but I believe I learned as much from all of you as you did from me."

Ozpin smiled at the small laugh that passed through the crowd. "I believe it is time that this gift be given to another. We are gathered today so we can give this responsibility to the person who deserves it most, and to ring in the staff of this school when it is completed in six months." He reached down and picked up his cane, then turned to the side and gestured with it towards Glynda. "For that, I would give you all over to the new Headmistress of Beacon Academy, Glynda Goodwitch."

Applause erupted at this statement, causing Glynda to blush profusely as she stood up and walked over to Ozpin. He smiled and clapped with the crowds, stopping only to hold the cane out to the woman. "Good luck, Ms. Goodwitch." He placed his hand on her arm and walked back to his seat.

Goodwitch turned to the crowds and cleared her throat. "Hello..."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora held his sea salt ice cream and smiled as he walked around the field used for the reception of the event. Groups of people were talking loudly while gathered around the many tables that covered the field, and a few of the more well informed ones had tried to rope him into things, thinking he was just a dumb kid. He caught sight of Ruby a moment later and walked over, finding her laughing with Qrow, Weiss, and Winter. Sora took another bite of his treat and inserted himself into the group. "Sora," Ruby said, shoving him lightly with her left shoulder. Sora grinned and pushed back.

"Hey, weaponless into a pit of Grimm, remember?" Qrow growled, interrupting their moment. Sora turned to look at the man who was standing with his arm around the elder Schnee sister's shoulders. "Don't be so disgustingly lovey dovey, got it?"

"Oh, please, you're one to talk," Weiss pointed out, causing the man and the woman he was with to flinch and blush. Weiss placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward slightly, a bossy and defensive glare in her eyes. "Remember, if you hurt my sister I'll do far worse than throw you into a pit of Grimm without a weapon. Tell me, what are your thoughts on using dogs to help hunt down birds?"

"Sister," Winter cautioned. Weiss sighed and leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest. "I do not need to be protected, by you or anyone else."

"I don't know, Ice Queen. You sure you don't have a Frosty Royal Guard somewhere?" Qrow mocked. Winter glared at him, but that only made his mocking grin grow wider.

"So... congratulations on the job offer, Qrow," Sora said before he took another bite of his treat.

Qrow rolled his eyes. "Ha ha. You know you don't have to congratulate me on getting a job you and Oz offered me," the man said. He shook his head. "I still don't know how the two of you roped me into helping your Keyboy Academy get up and running."

"Well, it'll involve way too much free time for the next few years, and you get to be one of the first people allowed to live on Destiny Island," Sora pointed out, referring to the dragon shaped landmass where Salem had been defeated. Following their ejection from Jaune's Heart, the **χ** -blade had immediately fallen apart. The sudden eruption of Light energy had purified the entire region, annihilating the Black Dust and the evil crystals that had covered the landscape. All of the Grimm and Heartless that had been there had also been destroyed, annihilated by the purifying wave of energy. Now, the landmass was mostly green hills and plains dotted with stone and crystal clear pools of water. A Keyblade Academy was being built near one of the larger lakes, a place where any Keyblade Wielder could comfortably practice and learn how to use the magical weapons.

"Besides, I'll be spending quite a lot of time there getting the new Schnee Corporation facilities on Destiny Island up and running," Winter pointed out, placing her hand on Qrow's arm as she did. "And with all your free time –"

"You see, you two are not allowed to talk about how gross they act sometimes," Weiss interjected before anything else could be said. She shook her head. "His personality is affecting yours far too much, Sister. At this rate, _I'll_ be the mature one." Ruby and Sora snorted at that and began to laugh at the ever more annoyed older couple.

"Yes, well, as I said, I will be there often. It seems that the Island is the best place to study the new sky." Winter looked over at Ruby and Sora. "The Kingdoms are incredibly interested in finding out how the sky went from having a shattered moon and a million stars, to no stars and a heart shaped moon, to finally having a circular moon and a million stars."

"Not even I think it would be a good idea to tell everyone that there are suddenly a million different worlds out there that didn't exist before," Sora said, shrugging and grinning at the woman. He grew serious and scratched the back of his head. "Speaking of which, did you deliver the package like I asked?"

Winter nodded. "It is currently being unpacked by Doctor Polendina and a squadron of Atlesian Droids in the hangar of General Ironwood's flagship. I trust that whatever it is the Doctor made for you, it is important?" the white haired woman asked.

"Well, all I can say is that I'm grateful you were able to get me almost all of the Gummi that fell to Remnant." Sora smiled and finished off his ice cream. He sighed and looked down at the stick in his hand. "Not a winner. Hmph..." He shrugged and looked back up. "Well, I've gotta go. See you soon, Ruby! See you, Qrow, Winter, Weiss!" He leaned over and gave Ruby a quick kiss on the cheek, then ran away before Qrow could do anything about it.

Sora grinned when he heard Winter hold the man back despite his protests. He was in the clear. "Sorry Qrow, had to annoy you one more time," Sora said, grinning as he made his way over to another group of his friends.

"Hey, man of the century!" Sun said as he continually coiled and uncoiled the region where his tail met the prosthesis hidden beneath synthetic skin and fur. Sora had noticed he was doing the same thing over the past two months with his own hand, like he was still getting used to it. Blake rolled her eyes beside the Faunus while Neptune grabbed drinks nearby for him and Weiss.

"Hey, guys," Sora said, grinning and rubbing the back of his head. The armor on his arm _clink_ ed softly with every movement.

"Oh, I know that 'Hey, guys,'" Neptune muttered. He turned and looked at Sora with an eyebrow raised. "That's the same 'Hey, guys' that Sun always gives us when he stows away aboard a ship instead of flying with us."

The other two looked at Neptune, then back at Sora. "He's right," Sun admitted.

Blake shook her head. "You're not planning on leaving, are you? Ruby wouldn't be happy." She thought about adding in something about the Keyblade Academy, but knew that was nowhere near the most important thing to the Keyblade Master when compared with Ruby.

Sora shook his head. "It's not forever. I have things keeping me here now, so I'll always come back. " _And I don't think Ruby will really be that mad._ He shrugged and placed his hands in his pockets while he began to look up at the sky. His eyes eventually caught sight of a star visible even during the daylight hours. "I just want an adventure, you know that feeling!"

"Do I ever! I'm going to tag along with this hot number to find the rest of Taurus' sympathizers in Vacuo!" Sun said, perhaps too loudly. He elbowed Blake in the arm, causing the cat Faunus to glare at him.

"I don't think that the Fang in Vacuo heard you," Blake muttered dryly.

"It's gonna be great!" Sun shouted, perhaps even louder than earlier.

Blake sighed and shook her head, though she seemed more entertained with Sun than anything else. "Well, yeah, we're going on an adventure, too."

"Oh, but I want to go on an adventure and I'm a bad guy?" Sora asked, earning an angry glare from the woman. She sighed once again and found she had to agree with his assessment.

Sun shrugged. "Well, with Ruby already hired on by Headmistress Goodwitch as the combat and magic teacher for Beacon, it's not like we'd have a lot of time to hang out anyways." The Faunus glanced over at Neptune. "And with the Ice Princess and her Royal Guard doing the same thing for a few months in Atlas, I feel like we're all going our own ways."

"Nah. There's always going to be some crazy monster who's gonna make us team up again!" Sora grinned. He shrugged and said, "It's happened to me every time I've expected some peace and quiet."

"Life of a hero, huh?" Neptune remarked dryly. He leaned against the table, waiting until Sora left before he took the punch to Weiss.

"Fine, how about this? We all meet up again in five months. How about... uh... Oh! The beach in Vacuo! Let's meet up in five months there, no matter what. Tell everybody that's what we're doing."

Sun smiled. "Hm... you know what, I think I'd like that." He wrapped his arm around Blake's shoulders. "What do you think, Kitten?"

"I think I'll kill you if you keep calling me 'Kitten,'" Blake half joked.

"Ah, you're no fun," Sun muttered, though his smile had yet to disappear.

"So how's the tail treating you?" Sora decided to ask as the quiet began to drag on. He raised his left fist and frowned. "This thing still feels like it's moving a bit slow. What do you -" He stopped when he saw Sun crying into Blake's shoulder. "Um..."

"Why'd you have to bring that up, Sora?" Neptune asked. He shook his head and nodded his head at Blake. "Well, got to go."

"Have fun with your better half," Sun said, stopping his tears for just a second before returning to crying.

Sora grinned guiltily at Blake. "Um... Bye!" he shouted, then he turned to walk away. He picked up another sea salt ice cream as he went. "Maybe this one's a winner."

Sora yelped as he was pulled aside by someone. "Agh, lemme go!" Sora shouted, flailing about. He frowned and looked over at his captor, then sighed. "Oh, Oz. Sorry." Sora unwrapped the sea salt treat and took a bite. Through his chewing: "What's up?"

Ozpin looked up at the sky. "I heard you're going to go exploring."

"Well, someone needs to. Besides, there's got to be new Keyblade Wielders out there. Someone needs to help them before the Darkness finds them," Sora responded.

"You don't have to explain yourself to me. You aren't so old that you can't go out and have fun sometimes," Ozpin assured the young man. He looked over at the young man and smiled widely. "Besides, after everything you've done, you deserve some down time after saving the universe."

Sora grinned sheepishly and took another bite. "Good. I'm hoping it doesn't end with me having to fight for Kingdom Hearts again."

"As do I, Sora." Ozpin smiled knowingly. "And I suspect you'll be looking for someone else, as well."

"Some of the stuff they had listed in Blue Fairy sounded old. Like things I saw way back when," Sora admitted. He took another bite and fell silent for a moment. "If it all really did disappear into thin air, maybe some of my old friends are still out there."

"That is a possibility," Ozpin admitted. He had not seen what had been in the research division, but the descriptions claimed to have found them in the deepest Dust reserves of Atlas and the other Kingdoms. That meant they were very old, maybe older than Remnant. Sora could be right. Ozpin placed his hands in front of him, then laughed dryly when he remembered he no longer had the cane to rest them atop. "And you'll also be looking for Miss Nustrai and Mister Black?"

Sora nodded and took another bite. He squinted in pain. "Brainfreeze," he explained. He shook his head to get rid of the feeling, the took a breath. "Yeah. They deserve a thank you." The two criminals had disappeared into a Portal of Darkness before anyone could stop them from leaving. He knew that made sense, given they would be locked up for their part in Salem's plans if they stayed. After all, it had happened to Jaune.

Ozpin saw Sora's sad look. "Mister Arc?"

"Yeah."

Ozpin nodded in agreement. "I believe he is stronger than even he knows," Ozpin stated. He placed a hand on Sora's shoulder. "And I suspect that is going to serve him well."

Sora took the last bite of the Sea Salt ice cream. "Yeah it is." He looked down at the popsicle stick and laughed boisterously. "Hey! Winner!"

 _ **R W B Y**_

Jaune stared at the ground of the Atlesian transport into which he'd been loaded fifteen minutes earlier by a group of Schnee droids. If he cared, he would admit that it was a nice change of scenery from the white, padded room where he'd been kept in solitary confinement in Vale's prison. He supposed that made sense, given his role in Salem's plans. He'd actually been expecting the death penalty; isn't that how someone who almost destroyed the world should be punished? He supposed that it didn't matter, it was like he was dead if he never saw anyone else.

He sighed and clenched his fists before letting them open. His hands were bound by a cuffs more than strong enough to hold him now that he had abandoned the Keyblade. He wasn't sure if the motion sickness had returned because he had abandoned the Keyblade or if he had just never used transportation when he had one. The metal connecting his wrists clinked and he let his entire body in its orange, prisoner jumpsuit slump as he fought off tears. His hair draped over his face and his blue eyes, once so full of life and joy, grew more and more empty as he held back his tears. He wondered what his friends were doing right then. Probably having fun or fighting monsters. Both? He smiled, knowing that he'd helped them achieve that, even if he had been part of the problem once.

The transport stopped moving suddenly and set down, the sudden heavy movement unseating Jaune. He flailed wildly before falling, hard, to the floor. "Ow," he groaned as he pushed himself up to his feet. He rubbed his forehead and groaned again. "Why'd we land so heavy?"

The door of the transport slid open, revealing five faces he had never expected to see again. "Hey, Jaune!" Sora said, waving with his left hand at the young man. As soon as that was said, Ren and Nora charged through the door to say their own hello.

Jaune gurgled as he was slammed into the wall of the transport, Nora's considerable strength already more than enough to rock the flying machine. With a little help from Ren, though, they very nearly toppled it completely. Argent, Ruby, and Sora smiled and let the three have a moment. Eventually, though: "Guys, come on. We've gotta let him out of those cuffs."

Nora, performing a fireman carry on the dazed and slightly injured Jaune, walked out beside Ren. "Oh, come on. Can't we have more time to say good bye?" Nora begged. Argent looked at the three. He wanted more time with his son, too, but he knew it was only a matter of time before someone figured out that someone had illegally transferred Jaune from his cell. Ozpin, Goodwitch, and Ironwood would be able to keep everyone's names out of any report, but they still had to hurry.

"Good bye?" Jaune asked, barely recovered from the Rennora assault. Nora walked him out of the ship and placed him on his feet in front of Sora.

Sora nodded. "Yeah." He summoned the Master Keeper to his hand and tapped it lightly against the cuffs. They slid open and clattered against the ground, letting Jaune rub where his wrists had been chafing from the metal. Sora dismissed the weapon and motioned for everyone to follow him. "Schnee Dust collected almost all of the Gummi that fell when the Realm of Darkness was reborn just before our fight with Salem. When I explained what it was I asked her to give it all to Doctor Polendina to make a ship. She agreed as a... lind of a 'thank you' for stopping DISC," he explained as they all walked around the ship and towards the other side of the hangar. Jaune walked at the back, wondering what was going on.

"And what does this have to do with me?" Jaune asked sullenly.

Ruby looked over her shoulder. "Come on, even I could have figured it out by now," Ruby joked. Jaune blushed angrily when his father began to laugh at him.

"It does seem rather obvious, Son," Argent admitted. He slowed down to walk beside his son. "Though if you haven't figured it out by now, I'll just let your friends explain."

"Thanks," Jaune mumbled dryly.

Sora motioned for them walking when he was only a few steps away from a pair of large shapes covered in canvas. He continued, crouching beside one of the shapes and pulling a silver box from beneath it. He lifted it easily and walked over to Jaune. "Put this stuff on, then I'll tell you everything."He grinned at the Knight and held out the box, which had a rising sun emblem emblazoned on the side. Jaune looked around, then reached out to take it. He nearly fell flat on his face, the box was so heavy. Sora grimaced and caught the box and the Knight. "Oops, forgot. Keyblade strength..." He steadied Jaune and took the box. "I'll just take it over there and you can change." Sora moved the box to the other side of the hidden shape and placed it down, Jaune at his heels. Sora gave a lazy salute and walked back to stand with the others.

"I haven't thanked you two for this, have I?" Argent suddenly said, turning to Ruby and Sora after a few moments of silence.

"For helping out a friend?" Ruby asked, confused.

Sora shook his head. "Yeah, this is just something you do," he pointed out.

"Break your friends out of prison and – "

"SH!" Ren hissed at Nora. The berserker quieted down and grinned sheepishly at her partner. "I know you'd be sad if you didn't get to see his face for the big surprise."

"Ren. Nora... Did you guys..?" Jaune asked as he came around the corner. He was dressed in an outfit reminiscent of his old one. He was wearing the exact same black sweatshirt and blue jeans again, having been provided by his father at Sora and Ruby's request. However, there were also significant differences. The armor was heavier and larger, for one. It reached down to his core, and had golden-bronze accents that created segments that reminded the blonde of Pyrrha's armor. He also had bronze and white bracers connected to bronze-gold finger armor over black gloves. A red sash was tied around his waist and his belt with a small pouch was tightened lopsided over the cloth. He tapped the toes of his black and white combat boots against the ground as he waited for a response.

Ren smiled while Nora shrieked excitedly. "Yes," Ren said quietly. He was holding back tears as he explained. "We found some of Pyrrha's old armor in Beacon's ruins."

Jaune looked at the ground and the two wondered if they'd done something wrong until he rushed forward and slammed into them hard enough that even Nora stumbled backwards. "Th-thanks, guys!" he sobbed into their conjoined shoulders. Tears were streaming from his blue eyes, causing a chain reaction that made his team mates begin to cry and hug him back.

"Your dad supplied the rest of it," Ren explained through his tears.

Jaune pushed away from his friends and smiled at them one more time before rushing his dad, hugging the man tight. "I'm glad you approve," Argent said. He hugged his son and kept himself calm, knowing that he had to be strong for his boy. He pushed his son to arms length and nodded in the direction of the two Keyblade Wielders. "But you still need Sora and Ruby's gifts."

"I think you'll like this," Sora said. He grinned wide and held his left hand up. There was a bright flash, and the Kingdom Key appeared. The blade of the weapon was held in his hand, teeth pointed at the ground. "What do you think? It matches the armor!"

Jaune blinked. "Wh-what!?" he asked.

"Silly, he said it matches your armor. Duh," Nora said.

"I... Why?" Jaune clarified, asking just Sora this time.

The Keyblade Master grinned. "Well, that's the surprise." He dismissed the Kingdom Key for a moment and cupped his hands around his mouth. "You can come out now!"

Jaune turned around and felt his jaw drop. One of the canvases was beginning to flutter wildly, a blue light appearing beneath it. Eventually, the energy that was creating the light caused the canvas to erupt in blue flames, soaring out of the hangar and dying out. This left a bright red... spaceship sitting in the middle of the hangar. It looked like a fighter ship from one of those old sci fi movies, and it made Jaune giddy with both excitement and fear. Sure it was an awesome space ship, but he was terrified of what that would do to his motion sickness. The engines were whirring, their blue light slowly dying down as whoever was in the ship began to shut it off. "A Gummi ship, meant for you and -"

"'Sup, Vomit Boy!" a woman shouted as the cockpit of the Gummi ship flew open, the dome sliding into the ship's body. Yang leaped out and landed beside the blonde knight. She looped her right arm around his shoulder and grinned evilly. "You aren't going to ruin the décor in there, are you?"

"You're not explaining anything!" Jaune shouted. He threw his hands up, forcing Yang to sigh and step away.

"Redemption, obviously," Sora said. He stared at Jaune's confused glare and sighed. "Fine... So, after we beat Salem, Kingdom Hearts created a ton of new worlds out there before disappearing. The lanes between those worlds have been reconnected, which means people with the ability to travel through portals can now travel between worlds."

"People like Morrigan," Yang cut in, frowning.

"Yeah, or people who would try to get to Kingdom Hearts. So, Jaune, you're going to do two things for us," Sora said.

"One is that you're gonna help me go exploring while we find my dear old mom and get her back," Yang said. She punched Jaune in the shoulder with her robotic fist and the knight yelped in pain. "Wimp."

Argent piped up again. "The other is you're going to go out and help people. Like a hero."

"No!" Jaune snapped. "After what I did... I should... I should be locked up." He crossed his arms. "I need to be punished."

"Fine, your punishment is community service," Ruby remarked dryly, earning a laugh from everyone except the humor-deaf Yang and the stunned Jaune.

"There you go, paying your debt to society! Now, to save those worlds and lock their Keyholes, you'll need a Keyblade. Oh look, a Keyblade!" Sora grinned and summoned the Kingdom Key back to his hand. He held the hilt out to Jaune. "For redemption and hope, this is your Key. All you need to do is take it and set yourself free. If you ever stray, you rely on your friends. We'll be in your Heart until the end." Sora finished his own version of the Keyblade Inheritance oath and held the weapon out more.

Jaune looked at the handle for a moment, then finally reached up to grab it. "But what about your dual wielding?" Jaune asked.

Sora let go of the Kingdom Key and raised his left hand. "Turns out that I had an extra hanging around," he said. A flash of black filled with white electricity filled the air and the black and white Keyblade appeared. He looked at it and shook his head, dismissing the blade. "I'll probably just stick with the Master Keeper unless something crazy strong shows up. I still don't like the idea of using the Keyblade that Xehanort used. "

Jaune looked down at the weapon in his right hand. It hadn't left. "So this is..."

"Congratulations. Oz said this makes you my 'apprentice,' but that makes me feel really old," Sora grinned. "And all this leaves is the two gifts."

"Headmaster – Er, Ozpin showed us how to make this," Ruby said, accidentally calling the old warrior by his former title. She reached behind her and pulled a pauldron from the place where she had once hung her scythe. It was gold and white, matching the color of his new armor perfectly. It flared upward slightly at the top, tapering to a point. At the center of the place that would be placed directly over Jaune's shoulder was a silver circle, the bright yellow of Jaune's family crest filling the circle. She walked over to Jaune and handed it over.

The Kingdom Key disappeared on command and he took the piece of armor from her. He lifted it to his shoulder and tightened the straps around his arm. "What is it?"

"Touch it with the Kingdom Key to activate it the very first time!" Sora said. He grinned. "Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise!"

Jaune raised his eyebrow but did as he was told. The Keyblade appeared in his right hand, the feeling much warmer than the summoning of the other Keyblade had been while he was under the influence of Darkness. "Like this?" he asked just as he tapped the circle with the teeth of the Keyblade. There was a bright light all around Jaune, and he stumbled backwards with a cry of surprise. Yang laughed as his head slammed into the wing of the Gummi ship behind him and he fell to his back.

"Keyblade armor," Ruby said suddenly. "It's made from the Kingdom Key. You form it by just pressing the button with your hand."

Jaune stood up and blinked. It was like the armor he was wearing was completely weightless, but it was still strong enough that he had barely felt it when his head slammed into the Gummi ship. He looked down at his hands, seeing that the golden and white armor that had been covering his hands had been replaced by a mostly white armor made from an odd, flexible metal. Black accented the area around the joints of his fingers. He turned around and looked at the shiny exterior of the Gummi ship to see more of this new armor. His arms were covered with white armor on the outsides, a black fabric on the inside of his limbs. His bracers flared out at the elbows, forming sharp blades that looked like they could be used in a fight. The shoulder no longer flared out, instead fitting to his shoulders in a boxy shape. His chest armor had also been replaced, the Keyblade Armor tighter than his other armor. It was golden at the top of his chest and white continuing down to the end of his torso. Segmented armor covered his legs, mostly a white silver that melted into black and gold armored boots. His head was covered by a black visor, one that was nearly Heart shaped. It was connected to the segmented armor that ran up his neck, forming a Darkness-proof seal around his body. A pair of golden ears flared up from the back of his head. "I... I look like Pumpkin Pete!" he shouted excitedly, just before the armor disappeared. "Aw..." He turned around. "What happened?"

"You dismissed it," Sora said with a shrug. He smiled at Jaune. "Do you like it?"

Jaune bit his cheek. He wasn't going to cry tears of joy again. "Th-thank you!" he said. He walked over to Ruby and Sora and hugged them both.

"No problem, Jaune," Ruby said simply, patting him on the back.

"One last thing!" Sora said. He pushed Jaune away slightly and looked over at Ruby.

She made a small noise. "Right!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a star shaped piece of jewelry that Jaune felt he had seen before.

"You destroyed the one I tried to give you last time," Sora explained when Jaune took the item. "It's a Wayfinder."

Ruby grinned. "A promise that we'll always meet again as friends."

Jaune looked down at the golden star, eyes locking on the family crest placed at the center. "Thanks guys. A lot." He carefully clipped the item to his belt, letting his hand linger on it for a moment.

"Hey, Jaune, let's go! Thrills to seek, Moms to find!" Yang growled, growing impatient.

Argent rolled his eyes and placed his hand on his son's shoulder. "This Gummi ship thing can let you land almost anywhere that's safe, so come home soon. Your mom and sisters miss you." He glanced at the ground. " _I_ miss you." He looked over at the ship. "Now get going, okay? Before I start crying, too."

"Yeah!" Yang shouted. She grabbed Jaune by the hood and jumped up to the cockpit of the Gummi ship in a single bound, dragging the screaming and newly reminted Keyblade Wielder behind her. "Now, don't you dare throw up in here, Vomit Boy! You better hold it in if you expect to survive the first trip!"

"Bye, Jaune!" Nora shouted, so happy that he was free rather than imprisoned that she was able to fight off the tears at saying goodbye yet again.

"See you soon, Friend," Ren said simply.

Sora smiled. "Good luck, man."

"Come back soon, Sis!" Ruby shouted. "Good luck with her sense of humor, Jaune!"

The two stood up in the ship and smiled down at their friends. "See you in five months! Beach party!" Yang shouted.

"What?" Jaune asked just as the cockpit slammed shut and the Gummi ship flew out of the hangar fast enough that a whirlwind of air pushed everyone else present back a few feet. Sora and the others ran to the edge of the hangar and watched the red and yellow ship spin in the air, grimacing as they realized Yang was obviously in control of the ship. Her driving combined with Jaune's motion sickness? This really wasn't going to end well. The ship did another loop and then soared straight up into the sky, blinking as it became another star in the distance.

"Good luck," Sora repeated, this time much less optimistic. "With her at the wheel, you'll need it."

 _ **R W B Y**_

Sora and Ruby sat at the edge of the hangar, staring out at Beacon Academy being rebuilt far below. Everyone else had long since left, leaving the two of them completely alone. They sat in silence for a while, just letting their hands touch. "You're leaving, aren't you?" Ruby asked suddenly.

Sora sighed and scratched his head. "Yeah," he admitted after a moment. He waited for a response, but none came. He stood up, hand still holding Ruby's, and pulled her with him. The two began to walk towards the other canvas. Sora raised his hand, summoning the Master Keeper, and let loose a weak aero spell, causing the canvas to be thrown from what it covered. Another ship, red and yellow just like the first one, was revealed. He stopped walking and dismissed his Keyblade.

"You've been planning this for a while, haven't you?" Ruby said.

"Yeah." He looked up at the ship and tightened his grip on Ruby's hand. He felt like he needed to explain it all to her. "There's so much out there that I want to see. People and places. And with everything that's happened, I owe it to myself to take a vacation, right? Who knows, maybe there's worlds out there like the ones I saw before. Maybe I can meet some old friends again."

"I get it," Ruby said. She let go of his hand and turned him toward her. She pointed at herself with her thumb and furrowed her brow angrily. "But I'm coming."

Sora blinked once and then grinned sheepishly. He placed his hand on the back of his head. "Hey, now I don't get to invite you!" he said, mock disappointment in his voice. He gestured at the ship. "I did get it made for two, and you know... we both have a lot of free time right now. You don't need to be back here for a few months to teach at Beacon, and the Keyblade Academy won't be finished for a while."

"I'm not sure if Qrow or my dad will approve of me all alone with a boy," Ruby pointed out jokingly.

"I think I've heard all their threats by now," Sora said, though he was inwardly worried he had not. Qrow and Tai could be... scary, when it came to Ruby.

Ruby jumped up onto the ship and opened the cockpit. She turned around and waved impatiently for Sora to follow. "Hey, you can fly this thing to Patch, right? I can't say goodbye with a note again, you know," Ruby said simply.

Sora smiled and jumped after her. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he said. He turned her and gave her a kiss. The two let themselves enjoy it for a moment, that they were in a time of peace, however short it might be. After all, right then, it was the beginning of the rest of their lives. They might as well enjoy it.

 _ **Smaller, More Honest Souls**_

 **AN: And that's that. It was shorter, and I was already half done when I finished Chapter 40, so that's why this was so fast to come out.**

 **I know it's a bit sweet, but I like me a 'happy ending.' Even if the heroes lose something, I like it when they feel like it's not the end of the world and just know good times will still come. It's a Sora and Ruby thing to do, right?**

 **I almost can't believe it's over. I've been doing this story with the most regularity out of any of them for almost a year, so having finished now feels weird. But you know what, it was fun! I started out with an idea and I finished it. So thanks to all of you for sticking with me for this long; I hope it was a great ride.**

 **Side note, I finally finished Volume Four – I know, I'm a week behind. Uh, Nuckelavee is actually scary despite being a cartoon. Really nailed that whole... 'Wild Hunt meets the Devil' thing. Also, Jaune's ultra sword. Really cool. I think that is my favorite RWBY battle so far, because I was legitimately worried it would murder Ren or Nora. Love that Rennora moment though. I loved the Volume as a whole, especially that last twist before the credits, especially since Oz was the one who gave Lionheart that tea set.**

 **This story has the most favorites and follows and reviews and views and words of any story I've written so far, so it became pretty special to me. Thank you guys, it means a lot to me that you all enjoyed this for so long.**

 **So, whether you're catching this chapter just as its coming out or a year after that complete box has been checked, please leave a review. I'd love to hear what you all thought of the story as a unified whole, especially before the spin-quel comes out.**

 **Which reminds me. I said I'd reveal everything I have about the story in this chapter.**

 **Like I said last time, I** ** _love_** **the title. And now that you've read this epilogue, I hope you will too. When I eventually get down to writing it, it's not gonna follow Sora and Ruby, so keep that in mind for how unimaginatively punny it is.**

 _ **SMHS: Arc of Redemption.**_

 **It's lame, I know, but I can't help liking it. The more and more I think about it, the more I love it. Yang or Jaune would definitely use a stupid pun like that eventually, and it would be magnificently awkward and funny.**

 **I don't have everything planned out for the story yet, but it'll probably have a lighter tone than this one did sometimes. I also have a couple ideas as to where the two will travel, and they'll visit each world at least twice. Keep in mind, though, these worlds could change at any moment until they're written.**

 **As you all likely know, I love abridgments of Anime, and the one that I think would work best is the phenomenal** ** _SAO: Abridged_** **by the hilarious** ** _Something Witty Entertainment_** **. It's like SAO but with more jokes and a Kirito who is infinitely meaner and will probably relish sarcastically pointing out their 'health bars' when they meet. The straight up anime world that I picked is** ** _Bleach._** **Ichigo's inner hollow will play into Jaune's struggle with his inner Darkness and whether he can use it. The Final Fantasy world was already referenced in this story, back in the Blue Fairy chapters where we see Cloud and Sephiroth. They'll be a combination of the KH and FFVII versions of their characters. I know that there will be at least one more world, a Disney based one, and maybe another world from any of those same four genres. I'm not sure what those one/two will be, yet.**

 **Anyways, I can't believe this is the last time I'll get to say this in this story... Responses.**

 **To gamelover41592: Thank you. I'm glad to have entertained one last time with this story's fights! Thanks for the reviews!**

 **To grimlock987: Yeah, I don't have a plan to jump ahead that far anytime soon, but I still don't even know exactly how the spin-quel will end up. For now, I'm sticking with this time period. Thanks for the reviews!**

 **To brave kid: Thanks. I can't wait to reach the next chapter either. Thanks for the reviews!**

 **To ReneTheKeyblader: I hope you enjoyed this little cooldown, too. Thanks for the reviews!**

 **To Chretner: Don't worry, I don't have any plans to stop anytime soon. Writing is the best practice for writing, after all. I want to be good/comfortable enough with my writing to polish off and publish a book one day, so your praise makes me really happy! And don't worry, this story may be ending, but the series will probably continue sometime before the end of the year. Thanks for the review!**

 **To Warrior of Six Blades: I forgot to mention this last time, but you're right about Xehanort's Heartless. He'll have to show up eventually. That's actually why I made Raven's Heartless have such a complicated death scene, with Morrigan throwing Ruby Keyblade first into the Heartless. Moving on, I'm happy that the Salem battle was close to a Final Boss Fight for a video game; that's pretty much what I was going for! I have my own idea for the HOW of Pyrrha being in Jaune's Heart. I'm not sure if it'll be fully explained in the spin-quel or not, so if you want to know what was going through my mind go ahead and PM me. Thanks for the reviews!**

 **To Guest: Thank you. I'm glad that I won you over way back when. You gave some great praise here, and I can say it made me really happy to see. Thanks for the reviews!**

 **To Chaos-Guard: I'm really happy that I was able to make a story that surpassed your expectations so much. I'm glad to have been on this quest, too. I hope that what I write from now on breaks expectations just as much as this did. Thanks for the reviews!**

 **And to everyone who has ever reviewed: Thanks for all your time! If I never responded to your reviews, I usually only do it for the ones on the latest chapter. I'm sorry I never responded to you, but right now I want to respond with a thank you. I love that you liked the story enough to say anything about it.**

 **And finally, one last thing to everybody. Happy Valentines!**


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